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Social Firm: Social Firms are market-led businesses set up specifically to create employment for disabled people where at least 50% of the income should be through trading and at least 25% of the paid staff should be disabled. Workmatch is the first business to achieve full Social Firm status in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and indeed is one of only a few in the West Midlands. As a Social Firm Workmatch achieves nearly 60% of its income through trading and 45% of the paid staff are disabled. Social firms are based on the 3 Es - Enterprise, Employment and Empowerment. Sally Reynolds, Chief Executive of Social Firms UK (the national support agency for this type of Social Enterprise), recently said: “I am delighted to see Workmatch flourishing as a Social Firm and feel confident the business will continue to grow. Our mission is to have a Social Firm in every town and Workmatch is certainly helping us to achieve that in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Social Firms UK has recently launched its Values Based Checklist, a self help tool for the sector designed to promote Entrepreneurship, Employment and the Empowerment of disabled people. Workmatch has demonstrated its clear commitment to these values and we look forward to working closely with them in developing strong, high quality Social Firms”.Further information about Social Firms can be found at: www.socialfirms.co.uk. Helping People Get Jobs: Workmatch achieves its mission by offering a hands on practical work environment within which people can learn if necessary the basics skills of a good employee. Or they may need to gain regain their confidence and stamina to sustain employment. We assess and monitor with a comprehensive referral procedure, individual work-based assessments starting after the first 8 weeks and thereafter at three-monthly reviews. Job coaching is an extremely important part of the process and we will give a one to one on site (where ever the job is) coaching until the person is confident they know their role within the business. Ongoing support is provided for both the person and the business for as long as needed. Workmatch has a capacity of up to 30 training places per day on its social enterprises or 350 training days per week. In addition, Workmatch currently supports around 60 trainees in community based placements. All projects operate on a maximum of
1:2 staff/trainee ratio. ABLE: ABLE information and advice provides confidential assistance on any disability matters and especially the completing of forms. Meetings are normally at their office in Coningsby Street by appointment or drop in between 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
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