Employers and service users

Employers

KEEP offers a FREE service to support disabled and/or disadvantaged people in Kent into training and employment.

By finding long-term sustainable employment opportunities for these people, KEEP will be helping to reduce their personal hardship, increase their esteem and provide them with an opportunity to take an active part in the community in which they live.

KEEP is working closely with local Chambers of Commerce and the Employment Service, in order that we offer training to equip service users with the skills that are needed by local employers.

KEEP is working with the following disadvantaged groups:

• Long-term unemployed people living within 15 deprived wards in Ashford, Dartford, Dover, Maidstone, Shepway, Swale and Thanet (these wards are in the 157 most deprived in the UK)

• People across Kent with specific disadvantages including:

  1. Problems of addiction

  2. Mental health problems

  3. Learning or physical disability

  4. Ethnic minorities, including refugees.

Some of the people that KEEP is helping will need relatively little support and assistance to find a job that they are happy with. Others who may have been out of the employment market for some time will need intensive support both to find a training course/ employment that they are comfortable with and to remain in that training scheme or employment. KEEP partners are working together across the County to ensure that this support will be provided to all employers who can offer placements and employment in Kent.

What can KEEP partners offer employers?

• Tailored training packages for service users designed to meet your needs as an employer

• Advice on the Disability Discrimination Act and how to ensure that your company complies with the Act in its working practices (this law now applies to all firms employing more than 15 people)

• Support of service users into a paid position within your company and continued support to help them settle into their new job

• Access to a wide range of voluntary, statutory and private organisations working to help the disabled and disadvantaged in Kent.

How do I contact KEEP?

If you are new to the KEEP project, please contact the KEEP project support team at keep@kent.ac.uk or tel 01227 827307 and we will pass your enquiry on to the correct person within the KEEP partnership.

What will be the next stage?

This depends upon the nature of your enquiry, but if you are interested in helping us to provide training and/or employment for KEEP service users, we will ensure that you get a reply within 5 working days.

Service users

KEEP exists to help you find the training and employment you want and for you to hold on to that training or a job.

We can help you if you are:

• Long-term unemployed and living in target areas of Ashford, Dartford, Dover, Maidstone, Shepway, Swale and Thanet

• Experiencing problems of addiction or are recovering from addiction to drugs/alcohol

• Suffering from mental health problems

• Have a learning or physical disability

• Are a member of an ethnic minority, including a refugee

How can we help?

KEEP is a network of 15 organisations all of whom already have a lot of experience in working with people who are disabled or disadvantaged.

KEEP employment coordinators will direct you towards the people that can help you in your situation. These partners may be either within the KEEP project or be working outside of KEEP. All of these people will be able to help you find training and employment, whilst providing you with a supportive environment in which to learn.

Who do I contact now?

If you are new to the KEEP project, please contact the KEEP project support team at keep@kent.ac.uk or tel 01227 827307 and we will pass your enquiry on to the correct person within the KEEP partnership.

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