Some Examples of Good News Stories

Some examples of good news stories for Children’s Centre outreach activities.

1. As reported to Centre Manager………”We [two Jobcentre Plus linked Advisers] have had very good feed back from customers when attending your centre, they are more open at the interviews and say they feel it is less intimidating than attending the office.

I have interviewed 12 customers at the centre myself of which at least 6 had not used or heard of the centre before and had children under 5.

I have agreed with Tamsyn to issue your news letter and ask them to register with you as well. One lady last week had two children under 5 with her who were happily playing with the toys in reception so I agreed to do the interview there. I advised her of your toy library and she took her children round there after our meeting was finished.

I have had two customers who have agreed to drop in on Mondays for further advice and job search, one has agreed to look for voluntary work in retail and also attend Fresh Steps, she was very shy and quiet at our first meeting but was very much more talkative and confident at our next meeting. Her English is quite good but she lacks confidence, we hope working in Oxfam one day a week and attending Fresh Steps will help her gain employment.

2. Unsolicited comment to County Hall from Centre Manager. I just have to say that we have excellent links with our Adviser. She has helped at our opening day, attends all my advisory board meetings, they have held 2 Work Focused Interview sessions at the centre and will be doing some at our drop in sessions in Maple Cross and there are plans to hold the Options and Choices events here also. She has also helped with recruitment for our parenting programmes, signposting 2 families that attended.

3. Feedback from linked Adviser, to Childcare Partnership Team following outreach in a Children’s Centre.

My first customer had recently returned to the area after a relationship breakdown she was not aware that the centre existed, I offered her the registration for the children’s centre during our interview.

My customer explained that she had previously gained her OFSTED registration to become a child minder before her relationship has broken down, and that now she was more settled she intended to re apply. I was able to explain possible help with funding for CRB and health checks that would be required. I was able to give information on the child minder meeting held at the centre and the toy library which she could join, my customer was also interested in the play and stay sessions for both her and her ex partner. My customer explained that her ex partner had expressed an interest in visiting his 2 year old son possible every fortnight but that he was finding it difficult to find places to take his son, she felt that he would be happy to attend the father and toddler group held on a Sat morning. I was also able to discuss in work credit and better off calculations which my customer will access when her registration comes through. I also thought through meeting some new mums etc at the Centre she may meet prospective new customers for her child minding at a later date.

My second customer of the morning was an Indian lady who had not used the centre before, she explained that she was going through a divorce and was having a very difficult time with her in-laws and ex partner, who had contacted Income Support to have her monies stopped by informing them that her and her husband were now living together.

My customer became very distressed as she was frightened they would be able to do it again, I reassured her that her claim would be noted that changes must be made in person in future. She also explained that her ex partner lived on the estate and she was worried he may see her and her son, I have agreed to see her at another local children’s centre in the future. I was able to give her the leaflets regarding play sessions etc at the alternative children centre she was very grateful for the help I gave her. The surrounding did help enormously, her son was able to play with the toys and she was able to focus on her own needs.

I was able to discusses her benefits, the help available to her when she feels ready to look for work, we discussed rules regarding going abroad and I was able to phone Income Support to put her mind at rest regarding the 4 wk rule.

Jessica the centre manager interviewed my customer after the WFI she discussed help available at the centre and when our customer explained her concerns regarding meeting her husband she agreed to meet with her next week at her home. Jessica was able to reassure her that she would be able to put her in contact with services that would help her, Home Start etc

Our customer was very happy at the end of the meetings and said she would be happy to make Jessica a special Indian Tea when she visits next week. I felt that my customer would not have opened up in the Jobcentre environment at all; overall I felt this was a very fruitful meeting for both the customer and the children’s centre.

My third customer also had children under 5 and had not registered with the children’s centre, although my customer was not yet ready to look for work she said she would start to use the centre to help socialise with her daughter and gain confidence etc.

Following my outreach in the morning I attended a meeting at Baldock Community Centre which was the first stake holder’s event meeting. Further examples of JCP/Children’s Centre Partnership.

1. Jobcentre Plus manned a stall at the September 2009 Children’s Centre conference. The stall aimed to illustrate, especially to phase 3 Children’s Centre Managers, how the Jobcentre Plus/Children’s Centre Partnership worked. Attendees were referred to our Service Level Agreement.

2. Children’s Centres are encouraged to place their job vacancies with Jobcentre Plus – we are aware that at least one Children’s Centre successfully recruited using this free vacancy filling method.

3. In November 2008 Jobcentre Plus took part in five events during the LAs Affordability Fortnight. Each event took place in a Children’s Centre. Affordability Fortnight aimed to advise parents of the financial help available to support their return to work.

4. The LA is working with the Monetary Advice Unit (MAU); together they looking for suitable Children’s Centre premises to host MAU services. The aim of their joint project was to help get parents off welfare benefits and into sustainable work. JCP supplied details of where JCP was already bringing unemployed customers into Children’s Centres and supplied unemployed register figures for each District in Herts.