JP has been a bricklayer for over 20 years. However, at the time of referral, he had been claiming Employment and Support Allowance for several years and suffered with Anxiety and Depression. He needed to obtain an NVQ and CSCS ticket to work on buildings, he also wanted something to do in the winter months. Even though JP had been a bricklayer for 20 years, he had no qualifications to show this.
His main aspirations were to obtain an NVQ in Bricklaying and obtain a CSCS ticket, so he could work in his original profession. He knew from previous experience that there was limited work for bricklaying in the winter and therefore wanted to become a TV extra, so he could do this type of work in the winter and the bricklaying in the summer, thus maintaining an income throughout the year.
C4W helped him enrol on Agency Sites for TV extras, created his profile, uploaded photographs. In the meantime, the van he had bought developed a fault and he no longer had transport. The work he was offered started at 6am and there was no way he could get there on public transport and Covid 19 came and dried up work in this field.
He received training from C4W for his CSCS and funding for his Trainee Bricklayer card. The project found a college that would let him do the NVQ and his advisor assisted him with uploading all his written work online for the NVQ as he was not IT literate and only had a phone. Once his written work was completed, C4W sourced an employer for him to carry out his assessments. He achieved a qualification – an NVQ Level 2 City and Guilds in Trowel Application.
He decided he would like to become a taxi driver throughout the winter for a firm who have their own cars so he wouldn’t need any transport. JP thought this would be a good way for him to go straight into work and he could save for a car/van which would help him greatly with the Bricklaying work; and also, as the winter was approaching at the time, he felt it would be more difficult to gain regular bricklaying work.
The project supported the participant to apply for the taxi licence, the jobcentre paid for the SQA qualification, and the barriers fund paid for the licence, DBS, Medical, and the Knowledge and Numeracy test.
JP has now acquired his taxi licence and has started working with Xarrow travel as a bus driver on their school runs and they are also offering him taxi work on the weekends.
JP’s job goals were two-fold, he needed a job for the winter and one for the summer to sustain his income throughout the year. If he had gone into the building trade his finances and quality of life would have been impacted when there was no work and he wouldn’t have been able to sustain his quality of life all year. Being out of work and with no money was impacting on his Mental Health. Now he has the bricklaying qualification and taxi licence this will help him to stay in work all year and improve his mental health making it more likely he will not be claiming benefit in the future.
JP started work on 28/1/22, he has been in contact with the project and everything is going well: he is really enjoying the work and he feels his mental health has improved by getting out of the house and meeting people. He was working 16 hours on school runs but he now also works on a Friday night increasing his hours to 24.
South East Wales Regional Engagement Team
Civic Offices, Angel Street, Bridgend, CF31 4WB
T: 01656 815327 | E: SEWalesRET@bridgend.gov.uk | @SEWalesRET 
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