Help People with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities into Employment By Voting for Toucan Employment in Our June 2019 Charity Poll

Toucan Employment prides themselves of being one of the longest running charities that support those who have learning difficulties or disabilities to find work. Their aim is to reduce and forms of social exclusion.

Working across the London boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham, Lambeth and Brent, te charity works hard to prevent joblessness for those with disabilities. They work with both the employer and the job seeker to find a job that works well for both parties. They provide help and support throughout this process. Not only do they help job seekers to improve their clients ability to find a job that is suited to their interests, abilities and needs, but they also help employers to find the perfect person for the job too. The entire recruitment process is handled with support for both sides. Job seekers, once securing a job, are offered on-the-job support as well as coaching. This helps both the candidate and the employer to better grow and evolve within their working environment.

What Else Do They Do to Help?

Toucan employment are not only responsible for helping those with disabilities to better find work, but they also help them to settle in and to integrate as well. Plus, they are dedicated to ensuring that employers are meeting CSR responsibilities too. They are doing this by promoting a representative workforce whose skills they may have otherwise missed out on.

Last year Toucan Employment worked with more than 266 people with learning difficulties and disabilities, and of these 266, 180 were in some form of employment, appropriate to their skills, interests, and support needs. Last year, of their 105 Southwark clients in employment, 86 had been in work for 2 years or more, and 32 had been in work for 10 years or more (a number have been in work for more than 20 years!). Although they are only strictly dealing with Supported Employment, in reality, they support clients with a wide range of additional needs that might either impact on their ability to enter or sustain employment (family problems, benefits issues, tax issues, housing issues), or their general quality of life (sociability, social skills). They also run a Service Users group that allows their clients to advise on the work they do, and also serves as a substantial social function for clients.

They work in a mainly 1:1 holistic method, with a named worker for each client, which means the Employment Worker and the client build up a very strong relationship over time. The client and the Employment Worker also work collaboratively, meaning the client has ownership of the employment process, rather than feeling they are being forced to do certain activities. All of this means much better success rates for the clients.  Additionally, their support is not time-limited, and this means a much better rate of sustained employment as they return to offer on-the-job support if anything changes at work (i.e. new Line Manager, or changes in the role).                                                                                                                                           

Toucan Employment offer training, Job Clubs, work experience placements, volunteering, and supported employment opportunities, all with the overarching aim of supporting people with learning difficulties/disabilities into sustainable employment, and accessing all the direct and indirect benefits of entering employment

How Can You Support Toucan Employment?

If you would like to support Toucan Employment in their mission to improve social inclusion of people with learning difficulties/disabilities by supporting them into, and at employment, then cast a vote for them in our 2019 charity poll. It only takes a moment to vote and you can do so on the right hand side of our site.

If Toucan Employment wins the donation, then the money will go towards this valuable and under-funded employment support.

So cast your vote now and show your support for this London-based charity...