We offer a range of additional services to support candidates once they are established in work. These include:
Travel training
Travelling to and from work can be a daunting prospect for someone with learning disabilities or autism. It can take several weeks for them to feel confident in making the journey by themselves.
Each candidate will have a Job Coach to support every aspect of their working life and travelling to and from work is no exception. The Job Coach will help them to navigate the process of finding the right mode of transport, purchasing tickets, alighting at the right point and walking to the place of work. And repeating the process for the homeward journey.
The Job Coach will accompany the candidate on this journey until the Job Coach is happy that they can manage it on their own.
Benefits advice
The benefits available to people with learning disabilities and autism can be complex to understand and, when we place candidates in employment, their benefits may change as a result.
We work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Jobcentre Plus and the Hastings Advice & Representation Centre (HARC) charity to ensure that our jobseekers are not financially disadvantaged by finding work.
Job Club
We never cut ties with our trainees, even when they’re well established in the world of work. We’re dedicated to supporting them throughout their working lives.
As part of this we run a Job Club every fortnight at our Hastings office. This is an opportunity for our supported employees to keep in touch with us and continue to benefit from our services.
We offer help and advice on their current jobs and it’s a great opportunity for them to think about their future career progression. We also welcome speakers on relevant subjects such as managing money and workplace relationships.
Please contact us if you would like to present to our Job Club members.
Supported Employment Forum
The Supported Employment Forum is a quarterly meeting chaired by Little Gate for related organisations in East Sussex and Kent.
The purpose of the forum is to share information and discuss issues involving Supported Employment. It enables us to share our expertise with other organisations and to learn from their experiences.
Attending the Supported Employment Forum
The venue for the meetings varies each quarter, to ensure that as many organisations as possible have the opportunity to attend.
If your organisation would like to come along to the forum then please contact us for further information.
Autism specialists
We always treat our trainees as individuals with individual needs. We recognise and understand that different approaches are needed for trainees on the autism spectrum or who have autism combined with learning disabilities.
Autism itself doesn’t impair an individual’s ability to learn. But it can affect the ability to communicate and relate with other people. Autism can also affect how people experience the world around them.
We work with autism and Aspergers syndrome support specialist Rachel Lowden to ensure that all our activities are adapted or adaptable to the specific needs of those with autism.
