News
For details of general news regarding supported employment, diversity and Government strategy in these areas, visit the news pages of the
British Association for Supported Employment
2 April 2008: 2007-08 Self Assessment report published
Bury EST has published it's annual self assessment report for 2007/08. The report highlights our service strengths and areas for improvement. The report was compiled following consultation with customers, employers and staff as well as data analysis. The report also contains an appendix showing statistical information.
5 February 2008: Ofsted inspection report published
Ofsted have published their report into their recent inspection of our Workstep contract. We've been officially graded as "outstanding" with Grade 1 scores across the board apart from a Grade 2 for capacity to improve. It is the first time that Ofsted have awarded a Grade 1 to a Workstep provider. The programme is delivered as a partnership between Bury EST, Oldham MBC, Wigan MBC and Pure Innovations of Stockport who lead on the contract management. Read the report...
17 December 2007: Management changes at Bury EST
Huw Davies is leaving Bury EST at Christmas after 14 years as service manager. He is taking up a post as Regional Employment Team Coordinator with CSIP with effect from the New Year. The service will be managed on a temporary jobshare basis by Fred Bowen and Lynda Smethurst. Fred has responsibility for prevocational services and strategic directiopn while Lynda manages externally funded contracts, internal systems and quality assurance.
15 December 2007: Partnership for effective transitions
Bury EST has teamed up with a range of local organisations to submit a successful application for funding to develop the partnership around transitions for disabled learners from education to employment. The partnership features Bury College, Connexions, Bolton Bury Education Business Partnership and a range of others. Further details are available from Dennie Ford at our office.
27 September 2007: Routeways project comes to an end
 Bury EST's Routeways to Work project comes to a close after two successful years that have seen the development of the Employer Forum and 36 people from minority ethnic communities placed into sustained jobs. In addition, 10 people have been helped through career progression into more senior jobs. An independent evaluation of the project will be published shortly. The closure of the project sees Hassanat Ahmed leave our staff team to take up teacher training and we wish him well for the future. Fellow project worker, Zerqa Ahmad, transfers to our Workstep team.
27 September 2007: Employer Forum discusses "working interviews"
The Employer Forum on Diversity met today to discuss the practical aspects of introducing working interviews and how far positive action can be taken. They were able to take advice from Kevin McKenna, Head of Employment Law at Keoghs.
 26 September 2007: New training on offer for providers
Bury EST is running two courses in employer engagement over the coming months. Delivered by our Employer Consultant, Fred Bowen, they take place in Manchester (5-6 December) and London (29-30 January) and are aimed at staff working within supported employment, further education and Connexions services. The courses are highly respected and get great feedback - details are on our training page.
17 September 2007: Workwise sees college starters
Nine participants on our Workwise project have gone back into education this month as they focus on revitalising their careers. Six people are starting on various courses at Bury College and three with the Adult Education Service. We wish them well.
13 September 2007: Bury EST featured at BASE conference
Fred Bowen presented a workshop on "marketing supported employment" at the national conference of the British Association for Supported Employment in Birmingham this week. He presented jointly with Emma Holmes of Nottinghamshire County Council and the workshop was well received. The conference, chaired by Bury EST manager, Huw Davies, featured keynote speeches from Minister, Anne McGuire MP and Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council, Chris Banks CBE. BASE again approved the election of Huw as national Chairman. More...
6 August 2007: Changes to our drugs project
Our drugs project, Workwise, sees a staffing change with Michael Dean taking over as Placement Officer from Alistair Hannah-Briggs who has left to go self employed. We'd like to wish Alistair well for the future. Full details of our current staff team are available on our page.
1 July 2007: Bury EST calls time on No Limits
Our European funded project No Limits has had to close to new referrals. We have found it increasingly difficult to attract customers for the New Directions strand of the project which offers vocational advice and guidance to people on Incapacity benefits. This has threatened the viability of the rest of the project and so we have reluctantly decided to not take any further referrals. We will be doing our best to offer a service to those people already enrolled on the project and will be discussing next steps with each client individually.
 22 May 2007: Bury EST staff in Race for Life
Four of Bury EST's staff took part in the Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK. Congratulations to Lynda Williamson, Sue Pearson, Lynda Smethurst and Dennie Ford for completing the 5km run and raising funds for the charity.
17 May 2007: Mentoring event for local businesses
Bury EST today held a half day seminar on mentoring in the workplace. The event was very sucessful and generated a lot of discussion on methods of providing support to employees within the workplace.
14 May 2007: College and EST do joint conference presentation
Huw Davies and Bury College's Sandra Newton made a joint workshop presentation to a conference organised by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) in London. The conference focused on the Learning and Skills Strategy for people with disabilities, Learning for Living and Work.
1 May 2007: Presentation to GM Police Association
Bury EST presented to the annual meeting of the Greater Manchester Association of Disabled Police Officers at Sedgley Park Training Centre. The presentation focused on the recruitment and retention of disabled jobseekers.
24 April 2007: Huw features at Surrey conference
Manager, Huw Davies, gave a keynote speech today at a conference organised by the Surrey Supported Employment Network. The conference also heard from Shadow Minister, Jeremy Hunt, and Christy Lynch.
12 April 2007: Employer Forum discusses advertising vacancies
Presentations by Kat Hartley (Bury MBC) and Fred Bowen (Bury EST) featured in today's Employer Forum on Diversity meeting. Copies of the presentations and minutes of meetings are available on the Forum webpage.
16 January 2007: Self assessment report available
Our self assessment report is now available on the publications page. The report reviews the strengths and weaknesses of our service in 2006 and is a requirement of our provision of Workstep. We'd like to thank all those clients and employers who fed their views into the report through surveys, consultation events and focus groups. More...
11 January 2007: Managing diversity to be discussed with employers
Our Employer Forum on Diversity starts this year's meetings at the Village Hotel on 18 January with a presentation by Fred and Huw about managing diversity in the workplace. Employers wishing to attend should contact Fred on 0161 761 4662
4 January 2007: New staff at Bury EST
We welcome new staff on to our team. Joshua Mangas and Helen Whittle join our prevocational service, Louise Blackmore starts on our Woprkstep team and Lynda Williamson will be working with Leanne and Mick on the No Limits project. Full details of our current staff team are available on our page.
1 January 2007: No Limits project starts
Our LSC and European funded project, No Limits, starts today. The project will have two strands: Moving On, which focuses on supporting young education leavers into emoployment; and New Directions, which provides advice and guidance to people on Incapacity Benefits. The project will be led by Leanne Gray with support from new staff member Lynda Williamson. Further details are on our projects page.
20 September 2006: New posts available at Bury EST
Bury EST is seeking Placement Officers to work on the No Limits project and elsewhere within the service. Application forms are available from 5 October but the adverts and details are now available on our jobs page.
7 September 2006: New transitioning project given the go ahead
Bury EST has been given approval in principle to run a 12 month project to support education leavers into employment. The European funding was secured through Greater Manchester's ESF co-financing programme and is due to start in January 2007. The project will provide intensive support for 25 college leavers to assist them in finding suitable employment. The project will also offer groupwork support and individual tutorial to 125 people on incapacity benefits to help them move towards employment. The project is the result of partnership work in Bury around transitions from education to adult lifestyles. The partnership includes Bury EST, Connexions, Bury College, the Adult & Community Education Service, Elmsbank High School and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. We'll be marketing the project once the contract details have been finalised.
22 August 2006: Bury EST supports FC United's community initiatives
 Bury EST has become a community partner with Manchester's newest football team, FC United of Manchester. We've joined their 127 Club and are sponsoring their Manager, Karl Margison, for the 2006-07 season. FC United play at Gigg Lane in Bury and have attracted plenty of attention since they were formed by disillusioned fans of Manchester United a year ago. They have already won promotion to the North West Counties Division 1 and regularly attract crowds of 3,000 to their games. Bury EST is supporting their engagement with local businesses and a variety of community initiatives are being planned which we hope to participate in. Get those bar scarves whirling! Link to FC United website...
14 August 2006: Bury EST manager to judge at Remploy Awards
Bury EST's manager, Huw Davies, has been asked to participate on the Northern judging panel of Remploy's Leading the Way awards. The awards recognise outstanding employers and individuals who have made significant efforts to actively encourage diversity within their organisations. Judging will take place in mid September. More...
12 July 2006: Bury EST offers training in London and Newcastle
Bury EST is to provide training in employer engagement to providers in London and the south east of England. The service is putting on a two day course in London on October 18-19 following the successful delivery of a course for staff in Oxfordshire earlier this month.
Bury EST is also providing training in employer engagement to providers in the North East of England. The service is putting on a two day course in Newcastle on November 28-29. More...
12 June 2006: Manager elected to chair national association
Bury EST's manager, Huw Davies, has been elected as the first Chair of the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE). BASE has been formed by the merger of two previous associations, NASE and AfSE. Huw has previously chaired AfSE for the last four years.
24 April 2006: Response to the Welfare Reform Green Paper
Bury EST has submitted a response to the Government's welfare reform Green Paper. The Green Paper is intended to offer a new framework to encourage more people into work from incapacity benefits. It proposes a number of changes to welfare benefits, assessment of personal capability to work. We are concerned that the focus is on those nearest to the labour market and that it will introduce a 2 tier system and a reliance on medical assessments. Read our response...
12 April 2006: Information day for people with long term conditions
Bury MBC is holding an information day about neurological conditions on May 12. The event runs from 11am to 3pm at Bolton Road Methodist Church. Read the full details...
1 April 2006: Employment service to start for drugs misusers
Bury EST has been asked to provide an employment advice and guidance service to local people who are recovering from drug misuse. The service will include advice and guidance sessions; individual support to build action plans and CVs; and access to work tasters and work experience. Contact Alistair for further information.
1 February 2006: Bury EST delivers training to other providers
Bury EST's Fred Bowen has delivered training in employer engagement to Nottinghamshire County Council and a partnership of Bolton agencies over the last couple of weeks. More information about the courses is available on our services page.
6 January 2006: LSC funding for transitions partnership
Bury MBC has been awarded funding by the Learning and Skills Council to deliver workforce training in Bury and to market employers. The funding was won by a multi-agency partnership that includes Elmsbank High School, Bury EST, Adult and Community Education, Bury College, Connexions and Greater Manchester Chamber. The project will be led by Bury MBC and has three main components:
- mapping of the curriculum across Bury for adults with learning disabilities and cross checking its relevance to employer needs
- training in employer engagement for 45 staff across the various partners
- a marketing campaign aimed at getting more employers to offer work experience opportunities for school and college students.
18 October 2005: Continuing work with Pennine Care NHS Trust
Bury EST attended a meeting with several local supported employment agencies today to
look at how we can support Pennine Care NHS Trust to do more to recruit people who have
experienced mental health problems. Many trusts across the UK have a proactive approach
to employing people who have used services in the past. Further meetings are planned.
17 October 2005: NSF for Long Term Conditions
Bury EST today had a stand at a conference at Bury Town Hall to publicise the National
Service Framework for long term conditions. The framework is a national initiative to support
the independence of people with neurological conditions but should also benefit people with
long term conditions such as epilepsy and ME.
Read more about the NSF for long term conditions...
1 October 2005: Embracing Diversity project closes
Our successful Embracing Diversity project has now finished. The 3 year project was funded
through the European Social Fund's EQUAL programme. Details of the project are available on our
projects pages.
27 September 2005: Bury EST gives talk to CIPD branch network
Huw Davies and Fred Bowen have presented a talk to personnel managers today at the
Bolton/Bury branch network meeting of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development
(CIPD). The talk focused on the benefits of managing diverse workforces effectively and
follows the publication of an article on the subject within the North West CIPD magazine.
Read more about the CIPD...
23 September 2005: Visit from Czech Republic
We have hosted a visit by 6 delegates from the Czech city of Usti nad Labem. The visit was
funded by the European Social Fund to look at best practice in social inc;lusion and community
planning. The group visited several local organisations and heard presentations from several
local agencies including Jobcentre Plus, the North West Development Agency, Bolton Bury
Education Business Partnership and Manchester Enterprises. A second visit is planned for
November.
Visit the Usti nad Labem website...
16 September 2005: Routeways to Work projects get the go ahead
Bury EST has been given the go ahead to deliver a supported employment service for people
from minority ethnic communities in Bury. The 2 year funding comes from the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister through the Invest to Save budget. The service will be delivered by
Zerqa Ahmad and Hassanat Ahmed. The funding will also support the continued work of our
Employer Forum on Diversity for a further 2 years.
More...
15 September 2005: Involvement with Northern Way strategy
Bury EST manager, Huw Davies, has been invited onto the advisory group for the Northern Way
strategy on worklessness. The Northern Way is an economic regeneration strategy for the north
of England and involves the Development Agencies for the North West, North East, Yorkshire and
Humber. Up to £5 million has been promised to support the implementation of the Government's
Pathways to Work initiative through pilot projects in Manchester, Wirral, Carlisle, Easington
and South Yorkshire.
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