Q. How Does Community Catering CIC Deliver Training?
A. The Academy training activities will provide benefit to people who have been marginalised and disadvantaged, either through homelessness, ethnicity, religion, culture or gender, lack of skills or education or long term unemployment. The company’s activities will also benefit business communities suffering shortages of skills or workforce.
Although this provision is offered to individuals from all areas of the city, we are based in Washington which was our strategic business choice in order to gain access to suitable facilities. We are aware of the potential barrier (travel) to helping those in need to engage in the programme and begin making positive changes in their lives.
Q. How does Community Catering CIC Recruit? A. We will recruit new learners by engaging with Jobcentre Plus and we will work closely with Ingeus and other Youth and Social Services. All of these services will become aware of our projects and work closely with us to engage their service users in our project. While their service users are engaged in our programmes they will be invited to work closely, alongside us to give learners the best possible support to ensure positive outcomes and significant changes in the learners life.
Community Catering CIC will provide new opportunities to develop even better relationships with Partner’s advisers and support workers, so that, together, we can join up and maximise the impact of existing services on the lives of the people we all work with.
Our projects will focus on people who are disadvantaged and traditionally least likely to participate. These people are typically from low income with low skills backgrounds.
Community Catering CIC programmes aim to widen participation and transform people’s futures.
By helping our learners to make positive in their lives and helping them into employment this will allow our learners to contribute fully to their families, communities and society.
Q. How does Community Catering CIC proposed course(s) align with, and support the current strategic priorities for Sunderland, with reference to key strategic documents?
A. As stated in Sunderland Economic Masterplan, the city ‘still suffers from high unemployment and a low skill base. Has insufficient jobs to absorb all the available labour, and there is evidence of less healthy, less qualified workers becoming marginalised and dependent upon benefits. Large numbers of men and women in Sunderland remain dependent on welfare benefits, with the single largest group being those on incapacity benefits.
The provision of occupational and employability programmes coupled with practical skills and real work experience is seen as aligning with Aim 4 ‘ An inclusive city economy – for all ages’, specifically, helping to improve opportunities for people of all ages and sections of the community; targeting unemployment; helping to increase social exclusion
In particular; we feel that programmes which will help to get people ready for, and into work in hospitality jobs will assist in raising skills and removing people from the benefit system and therefor help the economy.
People who are skilled and ready for the hospitality, catering, service and leisure industries will be ready to take advantage of any increase in these types of businesses brought into the city by the achievement of other aims and objective of the master plan; such as the new City centre and Stadium hotels currently being completed. Further down the line, an increase in city business and jobs will ultimately lead to increased need for recreation and leisure, which will include the need for more food related business premises, possibly leading in turn to small business start-ups in this area.
Q. Where does training take place?
A. The locations of the programmes spread over four sites and three areas in the city:
Washington – Willow Brook, Spout Lane, Washington. Outside Venues.
These locations give us a good spread across the city, and we are in an area which is readily accessible to disadvantaged, and long-term unemployed groups.
Q. What are the training facilities like? A. All locations used will be fully operational restaurants and this offers exceptional scope for skills training and realistic work experience
The locations offer excellent welfare facilities (changing rooms, showers, toilets, rest areas).
Excellent learning activity rooms are available
The locations are modern, relaxed and informal – they are miles apart from what we believe our primary learners would fear to enter – i.e., the formal setting of an educational establishment such as a college of FE.
The target learner’s we seek are therefore more likely to engage in training.
Q. How does Community Catering CIC training provision specifically address the needs of the types of learners and how do we intend to target recruitment and sustain the engagement of these learners?
A. In line with the City of Sunderland’s priorities and aims and objects, the provision will specifically address the needs of the following types of learners:
• People looking for work and wish to improve their level of skills, confidence and motivation to help their recruitment prospects.
• People who are unemployed and in receipt of work-related benefits.
• People with multiple and complex personal issues/lifestyles (for example ex-offenders, people who have caring responsibilities, people who are homeless, or with substance misuse problems).
• People with mild to moderate learning difficulties/disabilities.
• People who are part of the city’s BME community.
• People who suffer from social isolation, including older people.
Q. What other opportunities do the training courses offer?
A. As well as the above, the practical nature of the courses, coupled with the operational work experience opportunities available will also target and assist:
• In increasing the participation rates of males.
• In the engagement learners who are disadvantaged by personal circumstances.
• Courses which are available at weekends and/or evenings.
Q. How are learners targeted and identified? A. Targeting learners will be done via INGEUS / JOB CENTRE PLUS and local CHARITIES with a particular need for training opportunities.
Catercorps will also run its own marketing strategy and campaign (with the assistance of NBSL grant) and vis its social media and website.
Q. What arrangements are made for checking learner eligibility and, where applicable, for collecting fees for learners who are not eligible for fully-funded provision?
A. Legal citizenship and eligibility to live and study in the UK and identity and age checks, as required, are made during initial interview and enrolment.
The SFA Eligibility Rules 2015-2016 (version 2) apply to our enrolment procedures. Age (over 19) and identity on the first day of the programme will be checked via three legal forms of ID. (Passport, driving licence, proof of benefits details, Age UK, utility bills, birth certificate).
Applications for Traineeship, aged 16-18 will be checked via ID.
Learners under 19 will also additionally need to prove they are a parent/carer on a family learning programme.
The target learners, (in our experience) are those disadvantaged individuals who will qualify for funding. However, checks are made, as required, above, and also as to the level of qualification already held and the rules of funding are applied. This is done via the information collected on standard enrolment forms.
A. What is the expected learner retention, achievement and success rates Community Catering CIC aims to deliver, expressed both as numbers and a percentage of total delivery?
A. Right student – right course is the Community Catering CIC Training Ethos
We aim for 100% retention and achievement. The training is offered in small, bite sized pieces, appropriate to the level, the needs and the esteem and confidence of each individual. Once individuals have tasted success they are invited to the next learning programme… and the next….
Exceptionally, learners may be identified who we will enrol on longer programmes.
Initial guidance and support and assessment will inform these decisions.
Q. How does Community Catering CIC encourage and supports learners to progress into either further learning, or work, as appropriate to their individual needs? A. Progression rates we expect to achieve, are expressed both as numbers of who will progress and as a percentage of total delivery.
Q. How can learners progress into further meaningful learning opportunities? A. Our priority outcome is employment but there are other positive outcomes which we look for in our learners.
Progress is essential in all of our learners and when employment is not an outcome we encourage our learners to look at further full and part-time education opportunities within our local colleges and training companies.
It is an aim to offer traineeships or apprenticeships as a progression route for those who are ready and capable of the commitment. Community Catering CIC is in a fortunate position to be able to do this in-house, or through partner organisations.
Q. What additional contributions to training in cash or kind are available?
A. Joined up work with other services to enhance the opportunities that are being made available to learning. Our entire experience couples classroom learning with real life work experience where our learners are able to learn new skills and practice the principles learned in our classrooms.
In our experience, learners either ‘get the bug’ and wish to do more, or they seek employment with the new confidence they have gained and exceptionally actually move into a college FE course.
Q. What methods are used to track the destination of learners who have completed course and moved either into further courses, employment, volunteering or other destinations?
A. Community Catering CIC will partner with career advisers and employers and provide a drop-in hub where learners can attend post course events.
Events will include job search workshops and meetings with prospective employers.
Learners will be encouraged to keep in touch via company website and social media and encouraged to write blogs or articles to share experiences.
Contact details will be kept for all learners if they agree and will be encouraged to feed-in regular updates via the hub visits, social media or the website.
Community Catering CIC will contact students, post course, with simple questionnaires to track progress and employment activity.
Previous learners will be invited to attend workshops with new learners to share experience and give advice on finding employment or identifying issues.