Richard Cooper joined the Care and repair team at Peterborough City Council on Monday 4th January. Richard says "The Future Jobs Fund Project has allowed me to undertake work for the care and repair team at Peterborough City Council.My first week has been a real experience as it has allowed me to get a feel of office life and learn about what the care and repair team does for the local community. After an initial introduction, I was able to go on a site visit with my colleague to some client’s homes. This allowed me to see the difference the team makes to vulnerable people in the community. Since then, I have been doing all different office duties throughout the week and am currently taking calls and information for the handy person schemeThe future Job Fund has allowed me to find work of which I have always wanted to do and would not have been able to gain such valuable experience if it was not for the Future Job Fund Project."
Russell Carr, Care and Repair manager says "Richard joined us on Monday, most of the first day involved admin and an introduction to the team and its systems. I was surprised how quick Richard was to pick up our processes especially the IT elements.Richard has assisted our Caseworkers and Surveyors on visits and has already been able to help with general admin work. On Thursday Richard ran the Care & Repair Handy person service for the day dealing with client’s queries by telephone. He allocated, chased and queried handy person work with contractors by e-mail and telephone.Richard’s input has had a beneficial effect already; the work he has done has allowed other team members to concentrate on other work to assist older, disabled and vulnerable people.It has been a really positive first week, feedback from the team has been really encouraging. We are now looking to get CRB clearance to allow Richard to have the opportunity to undertake home visits on his own in the future. "
