Six candidates successfully completed the Coalfields Worx programme and have since gone on to secure full time employment
Coalfields Regeneration Trust has recently completed its Coalfields Worx (CRT Worx) programme with a 100% employment outcome for all trainees including the supervisor.
Jobs secured at the end of the project included a grounds keeper at Stirling University, operative at BAM Construction and an Environmental Service Provider at Fife Council.
The programme aims to give those who are most removed from the labour market a bridge back into the world of work by improving participants’ general employability. The core feature of CRT Worx is to provide paid work, together with training and mentoring.
Nicky Wilson, CRT Trustee said: “Job market shortages have affected many over the last few years and continues to heavily affect those in the coalfield communities. The CRT Worx programme was set up to make a real difference and give people confidence to get back into jobs. We are delighted it has gone so well, with the team going above and beyond and really embracing it. The fact that they have all now secured job placements is fantastic and really exemplifies the benefit of initiatives like this.
“Following the success, we’re looking forward to rolling it out into other communities that could benefit from the programme. Congratulations to all those involved.”
Ross Sinclair, Coalfields Worx Supervisor added: “I’m grateful to have been able to take the trainees through CRT Worx. As someone from the community, I know it’s been a difficult few years for many and initiatives like this are worth their weight in gold.
“A lot of the time people don’t know they already have the required skill set, this programme was all about improving them and building up confidence to take themselves forward.”
CRT Worx was delivered at a crucial time when reports demonstrated that the pandemic wiped out ten years of projects in older industrial Britain*.
The project was delivered in Kincardine and the west Fife villages in partnership with Fife Employment Access Trust with it now being rolled out in the East Ayrshire region. This is part funded by the Coalfield Regeneration Trust and provides employment for one year for young people from East Ayrshire’s coalfield areas.
* The Impact of the Coronavirus Crisis on Older Industrial Britain, by Professor Christina Beatty and Professor Steve Fothergill