Does the prospect of returning to work fill
you with dread?
Are you caught up in the benefits trap? Or are you worried about your fluctuating
health at work? A new programme, Ensuring Positive Futures, is here to help
Words Amanda Elliot
It
is not everyday £5 million is earmarked for the sole purpose of trying
to end the social exclusion of people living with HIV. But with the launch
of the Ensuring Positive Futures (EPF) programme last month, a new project
was born that will do just that. EPF, with a core partnership of six leading
HIV organisations, will spend the next two years helping people think about,
prepare for, get back to and stay in work. The wider partnership encompasses
organisations from the HIV sector, trade unions, employers and the public
sector. The programme will also train employers and trade unions to improve
the way they treat and support employees living with HIV.
Reaching the parts…
By the end of this year, as many as 14 different EPF projects will be operating
across the six agencies. Some will target people out of work for many years
and those who are stuck in the benefits trap. Others will support people close
to returning to work with CV fine-tuning and interview skills. But all will
be united in trying to increase people’s ‘employability’.One
of the most exciting aspects of the new partnership is its potential for reaching
beyond London. A common criticism of its predecessor, the Positive Futures
partnership, was that it was only available to HIV positive people in the
capital. A strong theme of the EPF programme is sharing and spreading best
practice. So, although most of the projects are based in London, EPF are looking
for new partners across Scotland, England and Wales to roll out these all-important
services. Manchester’s George House Trust is a new partner doing just
this. EPF is expecting to help set up at least 10 pilot projects nationwide
over the next two years to work either with clients or employers and unions.
What it’s not
Agencies running the programme are keen to stress that this project is not
part of some cynical government-backed drive to push
Core partners
National Aids Trust
Oasis North London
Positive East
Positively Women
Terrence Higgins Trust
UK Coalition of People Living
With HIV and Aids (lead partner)
people with long-term illness back to work before they are ready, or an attempt
to shoe-horn them into wholly unsuitable jobs that send stress levels soaring.Andrew
Little, programme director of Ensuring Positive Futures, says: “We are
here to support anyone who wants to embrace the new opportunities available
to them as a result of the continued success of HIV treatments. Current evidence
is fairly strong that being in work can boost your self-confidence and esteem
and have a positive impact on health, while unemployment can make you ill.
Work can also be healthy for our wallets.”
Euro-cash
Funding comes as a part of the European Union’s Equal initiative, which
tests and promotes ways of combating discrimination and inequality in the
labour market. Equal provides half the funding while the EPF partners provide
the other half in cash and ‘kind’ including staff, resources and
premises. The programme runs until December 2007.
Help on the journey
EPF partners are offering a smorgasbord of services that will help people
across a spectrum of needs. As Andrew Little puts it: “It’s definitely
not a case of one size fits all.” Clients will, on accessing EPF, be
welcomed and assessed by a case manager who will refer them on to the most
appropriate service. The case manger will ensure the client has a smooth journey
across services and follow them up once they leave the programme. Stephen
Bitti, chief executive of UKC, the lead partner for EPF, said: “This
programme is an innovative way of tackling the social exclusion and discrimination
faced by people with HIV. A case manager system will ensure people continue
to get the support they need at any point.”
Only
half the story
All the partners in EPF are aware that supporting an HIV positive client back
into work is only half of the equation.The National Aids Trust and UKC have
teamed up to work closely with companies and their employees to banish myths
about how HIV is transmitted. UKC’s employment interventions team supports
employers in developing non-discriminatory HIV policies and ensures they stay
on the right side of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). Under the DDA
companies must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for people with long-term
medical conditions, such as time off for clinic appointments. From December
2005 they risk prosecution if they discriminate against people because of
their HIV status. Most importantly the EPF team explains they have a duty
of confidentiality to HIV positive employees. The UKC-led team is already
working with leading recruitment agencies such as Accenture, ROC and ProspectUs,
with more in the pipeline. Previous work carried out by the Positive Futures
partnership, the forerunner of EPF, found human resources managers were keen
‘to do the right thing’ by HIV positive employees. But their efforts
were often thwarted by fear and ignorance among ill-informed
middle-managers and co-workers. This team is also working with trade unions
and the arbitration service ACAS to tackle discrimination on the shop floor.
A key part of the work is developing a bureau of HIV positive speakers to
present to unions and employers.
A
policy partnership
Positively Women and UKC are in the process of recruiting a joint policy officer,
a person living with HIV. Working with other policy organisations like NAT
and THT, they will ensure the voice of people living with HIV is heard in
the corridors of power, especially when it comes to policies around work.
They will lobby hard to reach policy makers to
Other EPF partners
ACAS
City and Guilds
Disability Rights Commission
General Federation of Trade Unions
Institute of Employment Rights
MADaboutART
Musicians’ Union
Northern College
Roots & Shoots
SummitSkills (sector skills council)
Vauxhall City Farm
ensure employment regulations or laws empower HIV positive people and outlaw
discrimination.
Cross-continent connections
No EU-funded project would be complete without some European work. EPF has
five ‘transnational’ partners: groups doing similar work in France,
Spain, Germany, Poland and Finland, with whom they will share ideas and good
practice. You can read more about this in next month’s issue.
What direct services are available UKC
From October 2005, UKC will have a holistic Centre for Living, for people
living with HIV who feel they are a ‘long way’ from work and anxious
about taking the first step towards it (so-called ‘first steppers’).
The centre will offer clients safe environments to help start their journey
towards further education, training or employment. The centre will offer an
exercise space; work around HIV and nutrition, and courses building confidence
and self-esteem. Clients will have the chance to get involved with local environmental
projects at Vauxhall City Farm, Roots & Shoots and many others.
The Positive Workplace
These are accredited ‘next step’, enhanced service and employment
support services for clients thinking about work or ‘graduating’
from the Centre for Living first-step scheme. The Positive Workplace will
also support people living with HIV on welfare benefits to make informed choices
about their employment future.
Positively Women (PW)
Traineeships for up to 30 positive women including ex-offenders, refugees
and those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Sarah Fraser, skills
and development manager, said the traineeship would “empower, re-skill
and motivate” women to overcome common barriers to work and training
like childcare, housing and health.
Young People
PW will also work with up to 20 young people living with HIV or with HIV positive
parents to support them in finding employment. Allan Anderson, PW’s
Equal programme manager said: “These young people are likely to underachieve
at school through taking time off for caring, coping with bereavement, isolation
and the fear that their peers will find out. They are often socially excluded,
entering low-paid work or unemployed.”
Oasis North London (ONL)
ONL offers a tailored programme of training and structured work placements,
with
one-to-one guidance and peer support, to provide HIV positive job seekers
with
tangible skills, experience and confidence. Programme will include 30 work
placements and internships.
Positive East Working Well:
life and career management
This project will provide advice to those with HIV on benefits concerned about
losing income in the transition back to work. It will also provide services
for
people granted leave to remain in the UK, who have a right to work, who are
coming off social services and NASS support and trying to enter the workplace.
Career guidance support will help HIV positive people manage decisions around
career change and their return to work, especially around health and disclosure.
George House Trust
The trust will run a back-to-work advice service for at least 100 people in
the north-west. Over the next two years, the aim is to get at least 80 per
cent in employment or training towards employment.
Terrence Higgins Trust
Work Positive is a seven-day-a-week employment advice service through the
THT helpline and website. The helpline will act as a signposting service to
other EPF projects, referring clients to the most appropriate programme. The
service was launched after THT realised six per cent of its calls were about
employment.
The different ways EPF can help you
I want a new type of job
I’m 42, Italian, and have lived in the UK for 20 years. I gave up my
job when I was diagnosed four years ago, at which time I started on ARVs.
I’m not sure what I want to do but am certain I don’t want to
go back to the same type of work. I’m on high-rate DLA.
Sarah Lang-Jones from UKC says: As this person is unsure
what to do, the first step would be a referral to careers guidance offered
at Positive East or UKC. Once a clear goal has been established this person
might want to consider retraining or learning through one of the traineeships
offer at Positively Women or a work placements through Oasis North London.
I’ve been out of work for eight years I’m 37, Ghanaian,
but have lived in the UK for 15 years. I had to leave school early so do not
have any high-level qualifications. I haven’t worked for eight years
but have been volunteering and have extensive experience in advice work and
touch typing. I really want to work in advice, but part-time. I receive DLA
and Income Support.
Sarah says: A call to Welfare Benefits and Rights Advice
Service at UKC would help this person to find out about any benefit available
to them as they want to work part-time. As they have a clear career goal,
but do not have the qualifications, a work-focused traineeship at Positively
Women or the BEAM Team
at UKC would allow them to gain the qualification and work experience at the
same time.
I’m being released from prison
Diagnosed in prison last year, I am now in a drug rehab programme. I attend
probation every week but that will end in three months. I have a wide range
of work experience from admin to childcare. I am asymptomatic, not on ARVs
and receive Income Support.
Sarah says: It sounds like this person is taking the first
steps toward the world of work so they may benefit from the pre-volunteering
traineeship at Positively Women as part of their work with women leaving prison
or the community learning projects offered as part of The Centre for Living
at UKC. Both projects are designed to build confidence and help people to
develop their skills.
I want to return to my old work
I’m 50, and have worked as a senior manager for many years. I was diagnosed
six months ago when I fell ill. I gave up my job and decided to volunteer
as a way of getting to know other people living with HIV. I am now on ARVs,
doing well and am ready to return to a similar line of work.
Sarah says: This person seems to be
quite work-ready so could use support to look for a job through the Positive
Workplace at UKC. Once they secure a position, Positive East’s Working
Well project can provide work support if it is needed.
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