CBSA – Moving young people forward

CBSA has 30 years of experience in supporting people from a diverse range of backgrounds to find jobs, using bespoke, personalised support to enable individuals to overcome their own barriers to work. CBSA works in partnership with Llamau to provide the Symyd Ymlaen /Moving Forward project,which helps young people who have had troubled backgrounds move into work. The project is running across South and West Wales, with CBSA delivering support from Carmarthenshire to Bridgend.

The Moving Forward project provides young people who have offended, deemed at risk of offending, or who are leaving care access to employment and training. The young people have to be between 16-24 years old, not in Education, Training or Employment, and most will have complex barriers to finding work.

The project consists of two parts, the first being bespoke training in literacy and numeracy, as well as improving employability skills. After this training, the young people can then move on the second part of the project, which consists of a paid work placement in an industry they are interested in. The success rate of the project is impressive, with many of the young people going on to secure a permanent position after their placement, one of which was Shane*.

Shane joined SYMF following a referral from Youth Justice. He wanted to turn his life around, and was keen to work with CBSA to do this.After careful consideration and guidance, Shane agreed to a trial working in a general building trade, and a placement was found for him in Travis Perkins.

At the end of the first week Shane, CBSA staff and the Branch Manager met to assess how the placement had gone and if it could continue. Shane really enjoyed the job and nervously attended the review, aware that the placement was not guaranteed. Shane needn’t have worried.

Travis Perkins gave a glowing assessment of his efforts, praising his work ethic, good attitude, and his natural ability to deal with customers. Shane had done so well that not only was a placement agreed, but he would be trained and have responsibility for Customer yard orders. “He’s the best placement we’ve ever had” said the Manager at Travis Perkins.

If you are a local business who would like to give a young person an opportunity to work, just get in touch with Sophie on 01554 779910. CBSA employ and pay the young person’s wages so it will not cost your business anything, but you could change a young person’s life for ever.

* Name changed to protect identity