ACCREDITATION SUCCESS FOR THIRTEEN’S EMPLOYABILITY SERVICE

Thirteen’s employability service has received praise from independent assessors after passing its Matrix Accreditation renewal.

The external independent assessment thoroughly reviewed all elements of the service over three days, citing many areas of its work with customers and partners as exceptional.

Matrix accreditation is the recognised quality mark for the standard of information, advice and guidance delivered by an organisation.

Feedback from the assessment highlighted the quality and variety of support available to customers, effective working with partner agencies and team knowledge and training as key strengths of the award-winning employability service.

The team also received praise for successfully adapting to new ways of working during the outbreak of Covid-19, making sure that Thirteen tenants and the wider public across the Tees Valley continue to have access to free employment support at a crucial time.

Susan Borrow, employability support service manager at Thirteen, said: “I’m extremely proud of this achievement and the work that we do every day to support customers with accessing job, education and training opportunities.

“To get positive feedback at any time is fantastic and it means even more at the moment, given that we’ve had to completely remodel our offer to customers because of the current restrictions.

“While working remotely, we’ve been able to continue providing one-to-one support to help customers secure employment – including key worker roles. Being recognised with the Matrix Accreditation is a credit to the whole team and their continued hard work.”

Since launching in May 2016, Thirteen’s employability service has supported 4,220 people with employment, education and training opportunities.

When signing up to the service, customers get access to one-to-one support with a caseworker for up to nine months, who can help with CVs, job applications and interview skills.

Support also includes an employment and skills hub, with access to a range of job and training opportunities, access to volunteering placements at Thirteen and a team of employer engagement specialists who have exclusive vacancies from supply chain providers, external employers and internal teams.

While working remotely as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, Thirteen’s employability team has signed up 380 customers and supported them with employability skills, helping people to access employment and training.

For more information about the support available from Thirteen’s employability service, visit www.thirteengroup.co.uk/page/employment-support, or get in touch with a member of the team at 01642 947840 or employability@thirteengroup.co.uk.