Employability Help & Support

Information on employability support available in Northumberland.

Here you will find information on projects and services working with Northumberland County Council to provide information, advice and guidance around employability.

Northumberland County Council work with a number of partners to provide help and support to residents to assist them find training, employment and stay in work where appropriate. If you require information, advice or guidance around employability one of the following may be of benefit to you.

Return to Work Help for Carers: Carers Northumberland

Northumberland County Council and the North of Tyne Combined Authority are working with Carers Northumberland to help support Northumberland residents who have caring responsibilities to raise their skills, find a job, or to stay in work. Carers Northumberland can offer a wide of support tailored to individual need.

Anyone interested can find more information by contacting Carers Northumberland at https://carersnorthumberland.org.uk/education-and-employment

More information can be found at https://www.northoftyne-ca.gov.uk/projects/return-to-work-carers/

If you’re a Northumberland Council Housing Tenant and worried about finding work, unsure of where to start, or maybe you have decided that you need a change and want to start work or learn something new, we have a team of people waiting to help and support you every step of the way.

Gillian Blackett and Sarah Bosworth are our employment liaison officers who provide lots of support to help out-of-work tenants to gain employment through our North of Tyne Combined Authority Working Homes Project.
Help can include:

Improving your CV
Preparing you for interviews
Completing applications (paper or online)
Finding a job
Training and skills
Using computers
Looking for apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities

The only qualification you need is to be one of our tenants and to want to make a difference in your life. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked for years or if you have never had a job, we can help build your confidence and experience to give you the best chances of success.

For further information please email: employability.skills@Northumberland.gov.uk

Or contact one of our employment liaison officers on the numbers below:

Gillian Blackett can be contacted on 07989 168 717
Sarah Bosworth can be contacted on 07971 510 336

North of Tyne Working Homes is part-funded by the European Social Fund as part of the England 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme.

Bridge Northumberland is a partnership, bringing together 6 voluntary and community organisations and led by Northumberland County Council.

Bridge Northumberland helps residents to overcome barriers to training, education and work.
Residents of Northumberland can take part if you are:

not in work, education or training,
aged 16 up to retirement age
live in Northumberland.

It is FREE, entirely voluntary and doesn’t affect your benefits.

It’s all about YOU
Every Bridge programme is individual. There is no ‘one size fits all’ – it’s all about YOUR needs.
To make this work you are assigned a Bridge Worker who stays with you all the way. They create a support package to fit you, with realistic steps to help you with the changes you want to make.

We’ll help you find your strengths and goals and build your confidence from there. We work with a team of partner organisations with specialist expertise to add to your programme.

What YOUR Bridge programme does for YOU

Boost YOUR confidence
One-to-one contact (by phone or face to face) provides the basis for building self-esteem, confidence and bringing out your strengths.

Control YOUR finances
Get a FREE check on your financial situation with practical advice on money, benefits, debt and budgeting.

Help YOUR well-being
By working together to identify your needs you get faster access to support and counselling in the areas that can make a massive difference to your live every day.

Improve YOUR skills
Bridge helps you get into training or education, improve your digital skills and gain qualifications.

Find YOUR opportunities
Your Bridge Worker helps you find volunteering opportunities that provide essential experience as well as giving help with CV writing and practicing job interviews.

Unlock YOUR potential
One-to-one support from Bridge has enabled people to find motivation and unlock the potential to change their life.

Our programmes have connected hundreds of people in Northumberland to jobs, training and skills read about some of them by clicking here.

Working together for YOU
Bridge Northumberland uses the expertise of six specialist voluntary and community organisations to support YOU, build your confidence and improve your skills.

Working together we can offer you far more and better support than any one organisation could offer. Support covers mental and physical wellbeing, finances, digital skills, volunteering, basic English and maths through to training and employment.

Mental health and wellbeing
Therapeutic counselling, one-to-one coaching and group workshops provided by Cygnus support are an essential part of many Bridge programmes.

Employment support
In rural areas employment hubs provided by Community Action Northumberland offer access to job searches, CV preparation and IT skills.

Financial support
Citizen’s Advice Northumberland gives Bridge participants access to a FREE financial MOT and practical advice

Digital skills
BRIC provides IT skills assessments and digital skills training.

Functional skills (English and maths)
One-to-one tuition provided by the Northern Learning Trust helps overcome barriers with English and maths.

Volunteering and training
The Supporter Volunteering scheme, provided by Northumberland CVA, helps people get essential experience through volunteering.

Working together to bridge the gap to employment.
Bridge is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and The European Social Fund with the support of Northumberland County Council.

People come to Bridge Northumberland by many routes – some are referred from other forms of support or caseworkers, others take the first step for themselves.

Starting with Bridge is easy!

4 ways to connect:

Phone: 01670 858688
Text: - send ‘BRIDGE’ to 07393 796522
Email: bridgereferral@northumberlandcva.org.uk
Go online: refer yourself to Bridge at www.bridgenorthumberland.org.uk

As part of our commitment to support residents of Northumberland we want to hear from young people to ensure they are getting the kind of support they need to find and stay in good quality work.

We have put together a short survey to make sure we capture the views of young people on the employment services in Northumberland and the help and support they need to gain employment.

So if you are aged between 16 and 24 please take 5 minutes to complete our short survey and help us better understand the help and support you need.

Young People's Northumberland Employment & Skills Survey

Should you have any queries about the survey or Northumberland County Council's work to support Young People in to employment through the Youth Employment Partnership please contact Kay Vout, Youth Employment Partnership Coordinator, via email.