Employer Support

We want to offer our full support to employers who are recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. You may be expert or you may be new to this. These pages offer some tips and so on.

We work hard to maintain close links with local and regional employers, both on a 1:1 basis and through our Employer Forum on Diversity. Over recent years, employers have joined us on European project visits and have fed into Government policy documents.

Use the links above to find out more about supported employment and how we could help you. The links include past minutes of our Employer Forum, case studies and a guide to our services as well as video of employers that we have worked with previously.

You will also find more information including the business case, in the section about supported employment.

You can download a leaflet about the Employer Forum.

Work Experience

What we want from employers...

We are looking for work placement opportunities for a range of students participating in education at high schools or in further education. Placements may vary in length from a few days to a period of several weeks. Some pupils learn better by spending one day per week within a workplace and this may last for a term. We'll negotiate this with you on an individual basis and make sure that what ever is agreed is manageable for your company.You can download a brochure for more information about work placements.

What employers get from this...

Well, you're investing in a future workforce - one that has the skills you're looking for. You're also investing in your local community. There's no doubt there's also some added value to your company. In our experience, companies have found that the experience has been good for morale and helped in team building. Individual staff have learned new skills and worked together to make the placement a success. Your company will also improve its image within the community and its understanding of disability issues.

How to get involved...

We know you're busy so we want to make this as simple as possible for you. We've got an online form that we'd like you to complete for us. We will then contact you and give you some more detailed information before discussing any possible placement. There is obviously no obligation on you to take this any further but the partnership is determined to offer you full support should you decide to go ahead.

Please complete and submit this Interest Form

The small print...

• The partnership has a duty to ensure that all placements are undertaken within safe and healthy workplaces. To make sure this is the case, we carry out health and safety appraisals on all the companies involved. We may also ask for your cooperation in completing a risk assessment before any placement takes place.
• We may ask you to nominate a workplace buddy. This person would be part of your workforce but would take an interest in the welfare and learning of the person placed with your company. It helps us to ensure that the person on placement is not isolated and helps us to liaise with the company.
• We will ensure that adequate support is provided to your company so we'll make sure you have contact details in case of any problems. We'll also make sure that we support the company with information, practical advice and on-site support where needed.