In October 2021, we hosted our first CSCS course at Silx with the support of Central Training. Since then the project has gone from strength to strength.
CSCS cards are needed to allow people access to a construction site and although historically some people were able to work without them, now this is not the case and it has always been something the young people in our project have enquired about especially young males. Funding is not available for those young people aged 16-18 anywhere locally to complete this training, so we decided this was something we needed to address. We entered into a partnership with Central Training and agreed to fund the process using money we had for training from various charitable donations. The process gives each candidate their IOSH Safety, Health and Environment for construction workers qualification which is taught at Silx as a one day course by Maureen from Central Training, the young people then attend our Employability Drop in sessions to revise, we then pay for their test and card. Since October last year 65 young people aged 16-18 have been on the course.
The young people that have attended our Employability Project have not only benefitted from getting their CSCS card they have also had the opportunity to do additional training such as Asbestos Awareness, Working at Heights, Manual Handling and because of our caring ethos these young people have been able to build up great relationships with our staff and received additional support, advice and guidance with other aspects of their life which they would not usually get from a regular training provider.
The staff in the Employability Project work with each young person on a one to one basis to ensure they are revising and are passing the mock tests before booking the actual CSCS test and offer extra support on the day by taking them to the test centre or funding transport to get them there, this additional support means a lot to the young that otherwise might not have gone to do the test without the support. The staff have given the young people support with bus fares to enable them to come into the project, have offered guidance and support around personal issues such as health, housing, family issues and mental health and because of the extra support and the caring nature of the team the young people have continued to attend the project to gain further accreditations, create a CV, made the move back into education and in a number of cases have gone on to find employment, in fact 15 young people are now in work as a direct result of gaining their CSCS card with us.
The Employability Project along with lots of other youth provisions suffered coming out of the pandemic and the 16-18 year old age group were badly effected as they had lost a lot of motivation, some had not been in school for the duration of the lockdowns and had no qualifications or aspiration and as a result we found we started receiving lots of referrals from parents for support. The CSCS courses along with our ‘find the missing initiative’ has meant the Employability Project has had a significant increase in attendance and have been able to continue to offer support to those that need it most. We are continuing to offer the CSCS course with the next one planned for 4th November.
If you are 16-18 or you know of someone aged 16-18 that would like to join us at Silx and get support from our Employability Project and get their CSCS card please contact us on 01670 351356 or email us at silxteen@aol.com and the team will be happy to help.