Trust For London
Wise Age has been awarded a grant for 2 years by Trust for London to both offer online and virtual support to over 50s unemployed Londoners looking for employment or self-employment, plus provide information and support to employers promoting the benefits to them of employing older workers and having an age-diverse workforce.
Our programme offers registered candidate clients access to our online support materials including our Guide for Unemployed Seniors and improving your chances of getting a job. Click here to register. For employers please click here to register as a wise age member to receive and download our Employers Guide to Age and Employment plus access best practices and templates to help you benefit from older candidates and employ an age-diverse workforce that brings you higher productivity and profits.
DIGITAL SUPPORT Funding has been provided through the London Community Response Fund by City Bridge Trust to provide online and web-based support to anyone in London needing online support. This has paid for our website update and re-launch which now includes far more online support and links for 50+ job seekers. For people who are unable to access the internet or make online applications, we also are able to provide loans of tablets with appropriate software and we offer training to help clients apply online for work and training.
This support is available to anyone over 50 who is actively seeking employment or self-employment and lives in London
Completed Projects/Contracts
LOWES
Alongside our DWP-funded projects, we ran our London Older Workers Employment Survival (LOWES) project: an EQUIP programme funded through the Paddington Development Trust and European Social Fund this project ran from March 2021 until October 2022.
LOWES was available to over-50s living in Hackney or Tower Hamlets who were either unemployed – either registered with their local Job Centre or not registered – and were looking for work; or were economically inactive and although not immediately available to take up a job, were looking to return to work in the foreseeable future.
Similar to our DWP-funded projects, LOWES offered 1:1 advice and support with expert empathetic employment advisors, access to our Life Coach, and group training from our experts who have over 20 years’ experience in helping older people back to employment or self-employment.
Training sessions included Understanding and Overcoming Ageism, Confidence Building, Matching your Application to the Job Advertised, Improving your CV, submitting online applications, understanding employer needs and how to meet them, plus how to win at interviews.
These sessions proved successful both for the individuals but also in building 50+ group support and solidarity.
Impetus 50+ (funded by London Borough of Tower Hamlets and European Social Fund). This project ran from October 2019 to November 2020 and was able to help Tower Hamlets residents who were workless and experiencing barriers to employment that they needed support to overcome, gain employment skills, confidence, digital and financial awareness, through our group training sessions and ongoing 1:1 advice. Participants also had access to a highly skilled and published author who acts as a Life Coach to help people overcome personal difficulties which can act as a barrier to finding work and happiness.
DWP-funded contracts
September 2020 – March 2021: 20 Hackney residents aged 50+supported to move closer towards employment
March – August 2020: 20 Hackney & Tower Hamlets residents aged 50+ supported to find a job
March 2019 – February 2020:40 Hackney & Tower Hamlets residents aged 50+ supported to find a job
March 2019 – February 2020: 40 Hackney & Tower Hamlets residents aged 50+supported to move closer towards employment
March 2018 – December 2018: 50 Hackney & Tower Hamlets residents aged 50+supported to move closer towards employment, at least 60% securing a job.
November 2016 – June 2017: 30 JCP claimants from Greenwich, Bromley and Lewisham supported to move closer towards employment, at least 50% securing a job.
March 2017 – December 2017: up to 58 residents from Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets supported to move closer towards employment, at a maximum of 23 securing a job.
