Top ranking Supported Employment Service achieves Support with Confidence accreditation for 7th year

Top ranking Supported Employment Service achieves Support with Confidence accreditation for seventh year.

Optalis Supported Employment Service, which ranks number 2 in the country for the proportion of adults with learning disabilities supported to gain paid employment, has maintained their “Support with Confidence” accreditation.

The Supported Employment Service, which provides specialist coaching, training and support to people who need additional help to find and stay in work, has recently been assessed against a range of criteria to ensure that the service supports people in the Wokingham area in a safe and effective manner. The team practiced enhanced customer care, equality and diversity and demonstrated a level of quality that has made the service such a success. The accreditation also recognised the level of safeguarding training carried out for staff and the robustness of the organisation’s Quality Assurance Framework, which enables customers to give feedback.

Support With Confidence (SWC) is a Local Authority scheme which provides a list of approved care and/or support services that have been vetted on the grounds of quality, safety and training. This allows SWC to provide a pre-approved list of businesses and individuals which reassure members of the public who wish to use a support service either for themselves or a loved one, that the service they use will be safely delivered to a high quality.

Donna Morgans Head of Supported Employment Services said "We believe that Supported Employment is a service that can really make a difference. We know how important finding and maintaining work is for the people we support, it provides many benefits both to the individual and their employer. The team always work hard to deliver a personalised offer that really meets the needs of customers and this is reflected in our results.”

“Achieving SWC accreditation for the seventh year in a row demonstrates the consistently high-quality standards we adhere to, which is reflected in the excellent services we provide for our customers and our communities.”

"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the staff team, for the support they continue to provide to the people we work with during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of our customers are experiencing challenges within their job roles and the team are doing a brilliant job supporting everyone to safely maintain their employment."