Parents who are looking for work can now get help from the Work for Families project and Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLaB).
GLLab advisers offer parents advice on:
- jobs
- training
- volunteering opportunities.
You can meet up with advisors during Wednesday afternoon sessions at the Sherington Primary School Children's Centre.
Recently the project has been targeting lone parents, offering access to:
- childcare
- advice on benefits and tax credits
including ‘Better off in Work’ calculations - paid work experience and in some cases the costs of expenses.
Case study
The scheme has helped local DIY enthusiast, Jennifer Pinto, to turned her hobby into a career.
The 38-year-old mum-of-three was always painting and decorating for family and friends. Now she’s a tiler and looking to start her own business after 15 years out of work.
With the help of a GLLab adviser, Jennifer, whose ten-year-old daughter is a pupil at the school, signed up for an intensive two-week course with Dartford firm Able Skills and was able to get financial support for the costs of the course.
She told us: "After I was qualified I wanted to start work but I didn’t have any equipment so I went back to GLLaB and I was so chuffed when they said they could get me some tools.
"They got everything for me down to some steel cap boots and my overalls."
Jennifer is now being given advice on setting up her own business.