03 Feb Unemployed residents supported back into work
The NHS and West London Alliance have been working closely together to manage the recruitment for what will be the biggest mass vaccination campaign in England`s history.
1700 unemployed residents of West London have been support by WLA, its Local Authority Job Brokerages and their partners to apply for jobs in the NWL NHS mass vaccination centres. These centres are opening across West London from 18 January to the end of February and will play a leading role in vaccinating our residents against COVID-19.
Cllr Thomas Stephens, Lead Member for Schools, Employment and Skills, at Brent Council said: “As the UK’s most diverse borough we were hit particularly hard in the first wave of the virus so I am really pleased that Brent was chosen for one of the first new mass vaccination centres. As well as enabling local people to get vaccinated quickly and easily, local people are also working there – with more than 50 jobs already filled. It’s fantastic that Brent Works, working closely with the West London Alliance and Shaw Trust, was able to help the NHS to recruit local people to these jobs so quickly. We want to see the back of this awful pandemic and an economic revival for hardworking residents.”
There are so many individual stories of how residents have been helped – below is a wonderful example of a resident being supported each step of the way back into employment by local Job hub, Brent Works:
66 year old man, AD, was made redundant in October 2020 due to COVID-19 after 8 years working for the same company. He had worked continuously since 1975 and this was the first time he had been unemployed in 45 years.
He registered with Brent Works to access support in returning to work as being unemployed was not an option for him. He was told about the NHS mass vaccination roles; the simplified application process and the support available, and was very interested to apply.
Isobel, one of the officers at Brent Works, invited him to a webinar about the roles, supported him in updating his CV, something he hadn’t done in 8 years, helping him to highlight his transferable skills. Isobel then referred him to West London Alliance. Isobel provided regular contact via telephone and email, supporting him and liaising with West London Alliance on his behalf through the whole process.
In January 2021, AD was contacted by NHS to say he had been successful and was offered a job at the Wembley vaccination centre. Having been made redundant after 45 years in employment because of COVID-19, AD will now be part of the wider team working to protect people from it.
“Isobel is a star, she held my hand throughout the whole process until I was confident to return to work. I can’t thank her and the team at Brent Works enough for what they have done for me and my family” AD
The WLA boroughs are: Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hounslow, Ealing, Barnet. Other partners include Westminster, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, Shaw Trust, Ingeus, Belina, Pathways and other voluntary community organisations.
