Peterborough Mopeds

“Peterborough Mopeds” is a moped gifting project that assists those seeking work, or those who are in danger of losing their job due to transport issues.

Mopeds are purchased together with related safety equipment, each applicant will be trained to statutory Compulsory Basic Training standard and the moped loan, alongside safety equipment and insurance, will commence once the applicant has a job offer. The applicant’s contributions consist of £40 per week over the 15 week payment period

This project is designed to break the vicious circle of needing private transport to be able to get a job and not being able to afford such transport without a job and has been developed with the full support of end users.

Although this is an entirely new method of operation in Peterborough, it is based on KickStart’s 11 years’ experience of moped loans across the eastern region, and utilises well-established working relationships with agencies dealing with employment, education and training issues.

Peterborough Mopeds are working closely with Peterborough Job Centre Plus and have been provided with a desk to work from within the Job Centre to enable the project to interact directly with clients who may need this scheme to enable them to secure employment

This project funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA). EEDA's investment has been made as part of a joint programme of work with Peterborough City Council to help people in Peterborough overcome barriers to employment."

Contact Information
01362 699923
www.kickstart.ik.com

Project Management
Project Owner – John Wratten

Holly Mahon - Project and Administration Assistant for PCC Children’s Services

Holly Mahon was unemployed for two months before gaining the opportunity to work for PCC Children’s Services as a Project and Administration Assistant for Phase 2 of the scheme. Holly started her role on 20th September.

“Before gaining this role I had only ever worked in childcare and education. When my last job, as a teaching assistant ended I decided I wanted a new challenge in a different working environment. However, as I had no experience in anything other than childcare, I was continually turned down for jobs. My job centre advisor offered me the opportunity to apply for the Future Jobs Fund and the rest is history! I hope to gain many new experiences that I would possible need for a successful ‘career change’.”

“I felt nervous before starting this role as it was completely different to what I have ever done before. However, I was also excited to finally have the change I felt I needed, a chance to learn something new and meet new people. “

“I am working in Children’s Services, Learning and Skills, helping the Assistant Director and her Personal Assistant with various tasks. This is everything from transferring paper files to electronic to research projects such as investigating the top 10 Local Authorities in the country and looking at any news and announcements from the Department for Education.”

“I settled in really quickly, it helped that I started with 4 other people on the Future Jobs Fund, and that we had been put together on an open plan desk space. I love my new role and I feel like I’ve learnt so much already, my whole attitude has changed and my confidence is soaring.”

“The Peterborough City Council is a great employer to work for, because they are Peterborough’s biggest employer the induction was excellent, everything was covered and it was all appropriate. I feel very lucky to be working so closely with the Assistant Director of Children’s Services, Learning and Skills who is an inspirational leader and a fantastic mentor.”

“The FJF team have all been really helpful, and we, the FJF employees in Children’s Services, have established a good relationship with them already. I would recommend this scheme to other unemployed people as it provides the opportunity to gain experience and qualifications where you may not have had opportunity to do elsewhere. Getting back into employment motivates and leads to other prospects, I feel I do much more now that my days have purpose and I’m really excited to be now starting an NVQ Level 2 in Office Administration too!”

Future Jobs Fund Recruitment to end

We are now into the final stages of recruitment for the Future Jobs Fund project.

The last of the vacancies has been uploaded to both the website and the Jobcentre and they include:

Jobs Closing 25th October
Opportunity Peterborough – Team Assistant
Citizens Advice Bureau – IT Support Worker
Citizens Advice Bureau – Admin Worker
Vivacity – Library Assistant
PCC – Sustainable Environment Officer
PCC – Transport Monitoring Officer

Jobs Closing 26th October
Cambridgeshire Slivers – Database Administrator
Cambridgeshire Slivers – IAPT Employment Co-Ordinator
Cambridgeshire Slivers – Client Sales Assistant

Jobs Closing 27th October
Axiom Housing – Learning Centre Assistant
PCC – Clerical assistant/Receptionist
PCC Business Support – Business Support Assistant
PCC Business Support – Business Support Officer
Orton Longueville School – Administration Assistant

Jobs Closing 28th October
PCC – Information Officer/Administration Assistant

Jobs Closing 1st November
PCC Neighbourhood Management – Safer, Cleaner, Greener Officer

If you want to take advantage of the support and experience that a Future Jobs Fund placement can give then please speak with your Jobcentre adviser or complete an application form and send back to the Jobcentre

Success stories of previous FJF employee’s.

Hi my name is Gary Harbisher,

Im just keeping in touch and letting you know how I’m doing since leaving my FJF job. I’ve started my second job at the Saint Johns School, it’s a lot more physically active then my main job. At the same time as starting that I got offered 15 more hours at the Healthy Living Centre working with the respiratory team, so my hours went from 15 to 35 in a week. I will also be working a third job for my step-father-in-law as an engineer, repairing computer parts and assembling custom built computers as a weekend home job, quite looking forward to starting that. So I will be on 45 to 50 hours a week shortly.

My biology course is still going well, although I’ve taken a week break from the gym after my 10 week review was better then expected.

Although the news that I’m most excited about is that I will be getting my own place within the next few weeks, going to see my first apartment on Saturday J

Hope you are all doing well and I wish you all the best to the FJF scheme.

Aviva's Big Picture

You Are the Big Picture celebrates a group of extraordinary people with a series of extraordinary portraits, on global display across London, Paris, Warsaw, Mumbai, Delhi and Singapore.

Russell Leigh donated his picture, and will now become a 'big picture' yourself winner, his portrait will be projected onto London’s National Theatre building tonight at 8.05pm and can be watched live at http://www.youtube.com/aviva.

All successfully pictures will contribute to charity, as AVIVA will give £1 to Street to School and Save the Children to help street children in India, up to a grand total of £250,000 will be donated.

Farah Butt - Peterborough Women’s Enterprise Centre - Administrator Assistant/Event co-ordinator.

Farah has recently started working for the Peterborough Women’s Enterprise Centre as an Administrator Assistant/Event Co-ordinator.

Getting this opportunity means a lot to me, as it has given me a chance to gain experience in an office environment and dealing with clients, which I have never done before.

My job role involves various different duties such as, taking/making phone calls, keeping track of client records on the spreadsheet database, attending events and stock taking.

I hope to be able to build my confidence up. I want to be able to handle clients and customers in the correct way. I also want to be able to gain more skills with the IT side of my role, which will benefit me in the future

I’ve been here for 2 weeks which have been very enjoyable. I was given all the help I needed; I didn’t feel as if I was a new member of staff, but more like a part of the Women’s Enterprise Centre team.

I would DEFINITELY recommend the Future Jobs Fund to other unemployed people. Because of the Future Jobs Fund I was able to get my life back on track. A whole year when I was looking for work and wasn’t getting anywhere was very hard to take, but now I have the chance to gain so much more experience and get some of my confidence back. I think this is a fantastic chance for people who have dreams and aspirations.

I think that the Future Jobs Fund team were extremely helpful, and have given me really good advice, such as retaking my maths GCSE. I was planning to retake it next year at university, but the Future Jobs Fund has given me a brilliant opportunity to retake my maths GCSE.

Jobs Fair: Friday, December 10th 2010

We are holding a Jobs Fair at the Town Hall for all our Future Jobs Fund employees.

DATE: Friday, December 10th 2010

TIME: 12.00 – 16.00

VENUE: Town Hall, 1st Floor, Reception Room, Bridge Street.

This will be a great opportunity for you to network with a variety of employers, recruitment agencies and other clubs and organisations, and talk to them about any vacancies they may have.


Calling all businesses

As the Future Jobs Fund’s Employer Engagement Manager, I am ensuring that we do our best to create networking opportunities between our employees and employers within the city. Future Jobs Fund employees may be a valuable resource when considering vacancies within your organisation, and it is with this in mind that I would like to invite your organisation to our Jobs Fair. You will be able to come along any time before 12.00 to set up your table/stall. During the day you can take the opportunity to network with our employees and discuss any opportunities that you feel might be suitable for them.

Please let me know if you would like to attend this Jobs Fair. If you would like more information about the Future Jobs Fund or would like to find out more about our employees, please contact me on 01733 863770 or email me at insiya.salam@peterborough.gov.uk.

This week is Staying Healthy at Work Week.

This week is Staying Healthy at Work Week.

Why don’t you go out for a walk at lunch time?
Building activity into your day gives you more energy and strengthens joints so that you don’t feel so achy – Change4Life

Make sure you drink enough water…
Water leads to increased energy levels. The most common cause of daytime fatigue is actually mild dehydration – Allaboutwater.org

Learn something new…
Learning purely for the sake of learning is extremely beneficial – achieving goals you’ve set for yourself can increase your confidence and help you feel more optimistic about the future – Mind

Take the Healthy Option & Get your 5-a-day…
Too much sugar means excess energy, which can lead to stored fat in the body. And this can lead to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. – Change4Life

A portion of fruit and vegetable is about 80g, roughly an adult handful. Make sure you eat a variety and remember that fruit juice only counts as one portion, regardless of how much you drink.

Watch how much alcohol you drink…
Recommended daily alcohol limits are to drink less than 3-4 units per day for men, and 2-3 units per day for women. A unit is roughly a small glass of wine of half a pint of standard strength beer.

If you do drink regularly, try and take a break and have a day when you do not have an alcoholic drink

Give up Smoking…
You will feel more confident in social situations - you won't be worrying about the secondhand smoke you create anymore - smokefree

Reduce your risk of illness, disability or death caused by cancer, heart disease and lung diseases. – smokefree

You are four times more likely to give up successfully if you use your local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Keep up to date with the action throughout the week…
Join our Facebook and Twitter groups to be kept up to date with activities taking place during the week:
http://www.facebook.com/stayinghealthyatwork / http://www.twitter.com/SHaW_EoE

WIN!
There is still time to enter our photography competition and recipe Challenge – please encourage everyone to have a look at these on our website – www.stayinghealthyatwork.co.uk

YOUNG PEOPLE RAFFLE CAR FOR PETERBOROUGH SOUP KITCHEN

Peterborough City Council's 8 to 19 service was awarded Connecting Communities Government funding in January to work with the young people from Peterborough's central ward on the Modify project. The young people have been involved at every stage, from purchasing the black 2002 Citroen Saxo, managing the budget, working with staff from Ice Direct to modify the car, choosing the charity and organising the raffle.

The car, which was bought from Star Cars in Peterborough, and has been fitted with a new stereo system, alarm, exhaust, speakers, window tinting, alloy wheels and lights. All the work has been guaranteed by Ice Direct.

The car will now be raffled with a full MOT certificate, with proceeds going to Peterborough Soup Kitchen. The raffle will be launched at Peterborough Regional College, Park Crescent, Peterborough, on Friday 15 October 2010 at 1.15pm. Tickets will be sold for £2 each to people aged 18 years and over.

People will also be able to enter the raffle when the car is parked outside the former Woolworths store on Bridge Street, Peterborough, on Saturday 23 October 2010 and outside the Town Hall on Bridge Street, Peterborough, on Saturday 30 October 2010 from 9am to 5pm.

The Mayor of Peterborough will draw the winner at the Youth Access Point in Central Library, Broadway, Peterborough, on Friday 17 December 2010 at 2pm.

In recognition of their hard work, the young people involved in the project have achieved a British Safety Council Level 1 health and safety qualification and are working towards a 30-hour Award Scheme Development Accreditation Network (ASDAN) award. Five of the young people have signed up for a course at Peterborough Regional College, another is seeking an apprenticeship with Ice Direct and one young person is working with city council Connexions staff to secure education, training or employment opportunities.

Meet Tracey Covell - Retail Manger

Tracey Covell was unemployed for over 6 months before hearing about the FJF scheme. “When I heard about the project and the jobs they had available, I jumped at the chance to apply for them.”

Tracey was working at Best Deal 4 Baby, for most of the 6 months before finishing here at the FJF team. “I have made a lot of new friends whilst at the FJF. I have also gained an NVQ in Customer Service which has helped me deal with customers in a professional manner.”

“The support I have received from the FJF project team has been amazing and thanks to their help and guidance I have been able to get valuable work experience, an NVQ and confidence in my own abilities to work within this environment.”

“I would definitely recommend the FJF scheme to other unemployed people as it has rebuilt my confidence and gave me the chance to improve my work based skills and knowledge.”