Covid-19 Recovery Academy supports over 850 South East residents
The Covid-19 pandemic brought a world of change and left a widening gap in the labour market. In response to the changing landscape the Covid-19 Recovery Academy was launched in June 2021 to support residents who live in the South East region whose job had been impacted by Covid-19 either through redundancy, or recent unemployment or who were unable to retrain.
The academy received part of the £4.4 million programme budget in funding from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), with further funding from Essex County Council.
“We are incredibly proud of the number of lives we have been able to positively transform through the funding for this project. Good education and good employment are key drivers in changing the fortunes of the most disadvantaged in our society.”
– Jo Mckechnie, Contract Manager
About the Covid-19 Recovery Academy
The Covid-19 Recovery Academy was setup to support residents of the South East region to reskill in priority areas that continued to recruit during the national lockdown period including care, construction, digital, food production, manufacturing and logistics. The objective of the academy was to support people back into sustained employment who live in East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock. Delivery support was through a series of short entry level courses alongside additional employability support.
How the Academy supported participants
The academy offered a tailored programme of courses reflecting the recruitment requirements of employers across the SELEP region. Over the lifetime of the programme, the academy has supported 868 participants to remove barriers to employment through CV writing, interview skills, well-being support and coaching. They also ran job fairs in key locations working with actively recruiting employers to source opportunities for participants. At the end of the programme 350 participants entered employment with our dedicated one-to-one support. The Covid-19 Recovery Academy supported participants alongside complementary Shaw Trust programmes such as the Work and Health Programme (WHP), Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS), National Careers Service (NCS) and integrated with local programmes such as Live Well Kent and support providers like the Princes Trust by creating a reciprocal referral relationship for those who needed additional support.
During our delivery, we were approached by the North Essex Economic Board who had funding available they wanted to spend based on the Covid-19 Recovery Academy model for our skills path programme. We started this delivery in April, and it has been recognised that the employment market can change and therefore our offer needs to be adaptable so we can respond to local needs immediately.
