1. Westward Pathfinder
Call: 01392 690 800
Email: Info@westwardpathfinder.org.uk
Click: www.westwardpathfinder.org.uk

2. Westward Pathfinder is a local Devon based charity set up in 1999 to assist
the unemployed, economically inactive and disadvantaged members of our
communities into employment, education and training using a wide range of
interventions.
Our centres’ are located in;
Exeter – Torquay – Barnstaple - Bideford
About us

3. Our interventions' include
• Motivation, confidence and self-esteem
• Information Advice & Guidance (IAG)
• Work Placements and volunteering opportunities
• Job search, employability training, interview skills CV’s and applications
• Literacy & numeracy and ICT training
• Work based learning, Apprenticeships and NVQs
• Business start-up and self-employment training
• Mentor support

4. • The long term unemployed
• The newly unemployed
• JCP Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) clients
• Older people
• Lone parents
• Those who are rurally and socially isolated
• People with disabilities and mental health issues
• Young people who are NEET (not in employment, education and training)
• CClients with a history of offending
Who we support

5. Current contracts
• Community Work Placements, sub-contracted from RehabJobfit
• The Work Programme, sub-contracted from Prospects
• Family Action Programme, sub-contracted from TWIN
• SFA Direct Adult Skills Budget contract covering classroom learning (ICT, literacy and
numeracy, employability and life skills) and work based learning (Customer Service,
Business Administration, Health and Social Care, Team Leading and Management)
• Learndirect centres contract
• Apprenticeships – SFA funded
• Skills Support for Redundancy – SFA/ESF funded sub contracted through learndirect
• Skills Support for the Unemployed – SFA/ESF funded sub contracted through Careers
South West

6. Community Work Placements
• Two year contract delivered in Devon and Torbay in partnership with
RehabJobfit
• Forms part of Government strategy to reduce welfare dependency
• Programme aimed at long term (2 years +) unemployed – Job Seeker
Allowance (JSA) claimants
• Equips jobseekers with experience in a work-based environment and develop
disciplines and skills associated with sustained employment

7. • Customer participation is mandatory
• Any deviation could result in benefits being sanctioned
• Customer ‘on programme’ for a maximum of 30 weeks of which up to 26
weeks could be a work placement
• Work placement must be of community benefit (public, private or
community sector)
• 30 hours a week on placement / In employment
• Provider-led supported job-search between 4 and 10 hours per
week (while on placement and in addition to 30 hours)

8. Work Placements
• Work placements intended to emulate a real working environment
• Encourage the development of crucial behaviours and attitudes associated
with sustained employment
• Diverse range of sectors, avoiding the dominance of retail roles in charity
shops (capped at 25% for customer inter-facing positions)
• Demonstrable contribution to the local community
• Will not displace paid economic jobs or impact existing employees within
the host organisation
• Provision must be delivered within a reasonable distance of customers’
place of residence (90 minutes maximum)

9. • Providers to ensure customers are engaged in work placement activity for the
majority of time
• Up to 4 weeks to engage and start customers on placement
• Providers to undertake a customer diagnostic inc. career guidance, establish
suitable work placement and any work placement pre-entry activity
• Placement supervision to provide clear parameters and feedback on
customer attendance and productivity
Headlines

10. Our Development Team
George Curry
Chief Executive Officer
07989 398040
01271 818071
gcurry@westwardpathfinder.org.uk
Paul Huxtable
Development Officer
07901 865817
01392 490167
phuxtable@westwardpathfinder.org.uk
Call: 01392 690 800
Email: Info@westwardpathfinder.org.uk
Click: www.westwardpathfinder.org.uk