Having trouble viewing this email? View online

50+ Works
bulletin 7

New content on 50+ Works at your fingertips

• Self-employment as a viable route for the long-term unemployed?
  As an adviser, you may not immediately think of self-employment as a viable route back into work for your customers, yet with some of them it might be an option worth exploring.
  When considering whether a new business could provide sufficient income to make it worthwhile, it is important to compare projected earnings with the level of benefits your customer is currently receiving rather than with what they may have earned in a previous job. In this case study  from Avanta, the customer Helen had to achieve a profit of at least £65 a week, which she managed to do.
  
  More information and links to further support around self-employment are in the Finding Work/Self-employment section. 
  
  
• Adviser skills to support customers with health issues
  This case study  from RBLI shows a range of measures an adviser had to take to find a suitable job for a 53-year old woman with a hearing impairment and bad back.
  It emphasises the importance of maintaining a fresh perspective with each customer and demonstrates how longer term support can bring lasting results. The adviser also devised various ways to support her customer once in work – by staying in touch as well as by working with her manager.

The following publication might come in handy if you work in employer engagement or as a business developer:

• Key facts on Age, Demographics and Employment
  In easily digestible, bite-sized chunks, this publication summarises key facts about demographic change, age, employment, training, retirement, pensions and savings.
  If you would like a hard copy of this publication, please get in touch, but please bear in mind that the numbers we can make available to any one organisation are limited.

Finally, some new useful links on 50+ Works 

• Lifelong Learning Accounts aim to give people improved access to jobs and career development opportunities. Account holders can use a skills diagnostic tool to identify their interests, strengths and needs, for example, or an ‘eligibility checker’ to identify government funding available to them. Next Step provides this free online service.
  
• Criminal Record Disclosure Calculator establishes when criminal convictions become "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and need no longer be disclosed to a prospective employer.
  More content around support for ex-offenders in the Overcoming barriers / the hardest to help section. 

All the good practice examples, case studies and practical tips found in 50+ Works  have come from providers like you.

Take a look at the site and have a think about your own good practice. Do you think you have something to share with others? Would you like us to visit your project so that we can write it up for you and include it in 50+ Works? Or is there anything you would like us to cover that you haven’t found? We’d love to hear from you: get in touch with us.

To enhance your referral and partnership opportunities, submit details about your project for the service directory on 50+ Works.