While our apprenticeships are often in the health and social care, hospitality and childcare sectors, we welcome approaches from any organisations who have an appropriate opportunity.
Our apprenticeships generally last for up to two years and are all in paid roles.
Support for apprentices
Apprenticeships create a wonderful opportunity for people with learning disabilities and autism to acquire new skills and grow in self-confidence.
A Supported Apprenticeship provides a structured approach to working which allows people to thrive and become valued members of their team.
Many of our apprentices have started in our Supported Training programme, although some people go straight into apprenticeships. When we place a candidate in an apprenticeship role, we use a very similar approach to finding Supported Employment jobs, including:
Job profiling
We ensure that the apprenticeship opportunity is right for our trainee and vice versa.
Job Coaching
Each apprentice will have a dedicated Job Coach who will work with them and their employer before and during their apprenticeship.
The Job Coaches’ role includes checking that the workplace is appropriately prepared, supporting the apprentice in the workplace for up to six months, helping them form relationships with their colleagues and stepping back in should the apprentice role change and additional training be needed.
Additional support services
We have a holistic approach to supporting our apprentices and realise that the help they need doesn’t just start and finish with the working day. We provide a range of additional support services including travel to work training and benefits advice.
Support for employers
Hiring a Little Gate apprentice has many benefits for employers, including:
- Acquiring an employee who has already been trained to do the job in question and has ongoing support from a Job Coach.
- Adding a reliable and enthusiastic member to your team.
- Through ‘job carving’ you can take repetitive activities away from other team members and give them to an apprentice who will thrive on the consistent nature of the task.
- Research has shown that having a team member with intellectual disabilities can improve the empathy and wellbeing of the team as a whole.
We provide similar support for employers taking on one of our apprentices as we do for our Supported Employment programme. This includes:
Job profiling
We’ll make sure that we fully understand the apprenticeship opportunity you’re offering and find the right apprentice to fill it.
Training for you
We’ll provide training for you and your team to ensure that any necessary adjustments are made and that everyone is comfortable with welcoming their new workmate.
Training and supporting your apprentice
Your apprentice will have been systematically trained to do the job you need them to do and will receive ongoing support from their Job Coach while they settle into the apprenticeship.
Work experience
Work experience gives our jobseekers the opportunity to try out different roles and take a first step into the world of work.
It’s also a great way for prospective employers to see what it’s like to employ one of our candidates without having to make a long-term commitment.
About the placements
Our unpaid work experience placements last between a fortnight and a month. We aim to offer all our trainees up to eight weeks of work experience in total.
Throughout the work experience placements full support will be provided by Job Coaches to ensure that the maximum benefits are achieved with the minimum effort from the employer.
We have a number of well-established work experience opportunities available to our trainees including with the NHS, Barclays Bank and local authorities.
Offering a placement
Could your company support us by proving a work experience opportunity for our trainees? We welcome placements in any organisations throughout East Sussex and Kent. To find out more please contact us.
