At The Bridge our Hub has many uses, to serve breakfast, drinks, and lunch to our guests, to offer free access to computers and wifi, showers, and laundry facilities. Our case workers also work in the Hub, sitting among the guests and being available to help or advise with whatever a guest may be struggling with. But it’s not just our case workers who use the space to work, throughout the week we host people from Turning Point, the NHS Mental Health Team, and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
We’ve had someone from the DWP working in the Hub for over 6 years, and case workers helping guests with Universal Credit, PIP, and other benefits every day that we’re open. Our resident DWP worker sees about 7 - 8 people a day during their 9:30am to 12pm, but the work they do with our guests is a lot more complex than just setting up benefits or helping someone to find a job.
One example was when someone came to The Bridge because they had lost their job, then lost their home, began to sleep in a park, and began to suffer from serious mental health issues. We recognised that this person is not in the right position to immediately start looking for work, so DWP connected them to one of our case workers, who in turn was able to find them temporary accommodation, and refer them to the NHS Homeless Mental Health Team. Only after this did we help them find opportunities in volunteering, and supported them to sign up for an IT course.
According to our DWP worker, upskilling in IT is always essential for those who are currently looking for work, as it is a necessity for almost every job today. When being referred to the Adult Education College, guests can go through an assessment stage so that the AEC can find their skill level and job preferences, and recommend available courses based on this.
Something else that has proven beneficial to our guests returning to the workforce is volunteering, whether it’s at charity shops, or something more outdoors, like the park services. The greatest strength of volunteering is helping a guest regain their confidence in the workplace, so that when they are hired on for a paid position, the environment doesn’t seem so alien. It’s also a great way to get references to add to a CV, and to show employers that the guest has recent experience.
One of the biggest challenges is making sure that a guest is in a safe environment, and in the right mind set, before beginning to look for work. Everyone is different in themselves and their situations, so it’s important to recognise that and tailor solutions to each person. The DWP is constantly improving their ‘not one person’ approach, and learning about working with vulnerable people from their time at The Bridge, and working with Outreach workers. A common part of the process is referring guests to the right people before job search, such as counsellors and therapists.
However, these considerations can only be put in place by the DWP if a person has declared themselves homeless to their work coach. If a person is already homeless when they are signing up for Universal Credit, they need to write ‘no fixed address’ on the online form when asked where they live. This is something that needs to be done immediately. With this in mind, work coaches can organise appointments over the phone rather than online if the job seeker doesn’t have access to the internet, and if they don’t have a phone, the JobCentre can provide one. The JobCentre is open for enquiries, so if there is anything a job seeker needs to ask, or an appointment that needs to change, anyone can walk in and speak to someone at the JobCentre for help.
Another obstacle for those experiencing homelessness when applying for jobs is the lack of address. However, both the JobCentre and The Bridge are able to be used as a place of address for those who have none but need to supply one when job searching. Later on this will become an issue again if a guest needs to supply a bank account for a job but cannot get one due to lack of address. The Bridge can help with this issue to set up a bank account with HSBC, one of the few banks that don’t ask for an address to set up an account for you.
Some guests may be resistant to the courses they’ve been offered, this is often due to anxiety, bad experiences of school, or feeling ashamed/ wanting to hide being illiterate or innumerate. Because of this low self esteem a lot of people suffer from holding themselves back and not taking advantage of the help or opportunities they are offered. In times like this The Lighthouse Project, a branch of The Bridge, can offer to go with guests to their courses for the first one or two lessons.
Some guests will back out of volunteering opportunities for the same reasons, which is why the peer-volunteering scheme we offer at The Bridge is so important. We see more success with guests moving into volunteer roles if they have been involved in Peer Volunteering first, as it makes the transition less scary, to go from being a guest at The Bridge, to helping out on reception or in the kitchen with people they already know, in a space that’s already familiar. Once they are ready to move on, the idea of volunteering isn’t something new to worry about anymore. Peer Volunteering is offered to any guest at The Bridge who believes they are ready to take on more responsibility.
There is so much more that we could write about when it comes to the difficulties faced by guests trying to get back into work. The situation is complex, with many layers and contingencies to it, and unfortunately no simple solutions. This blog is just a surface look at the work that the DWP and The Bridge do with people from day to day.
If you’ve come to the end of this blog and feel like you want to help in some way, all that we ask is that you either donate or share this blog, so that we can continue to fund our amazing case workers, and remain open to our guests for 5 days a week.
And thank you for reading.
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