Rooms 6 & 7 - GCIL - 13.45 - 14.30
GCIL Employment Services has been providing a wide range of training and employment opportunities for disabled people and employers since 2001. In the past seven years we have developed programmes which not only improve services for disabled people in general but also help them to leave the benefit system behind as they increase their employability.

GCIL Employment Solutions is an integrated employment project that provides salaried work experience, development opportunities and support into further employment to disabled people. GCIL Employment Solutions has created over one hundred employment opportunities for disabled people. These opportunities are provided by a variety of placement organisations, mainly local Housing Associations, but also now include private sector companies. The number of employment opportunities offered has increased year on year, due to the success and demand for the project.

The past year has also seen the launch of GCIL Employment Link, a subscription service that provides the link between disabled people and employers. The main aim of this project is to provide carefully assessed candidates who are deemed to be closer to the labour market to employers, provide support in addressing candidate access requirements and provide training and support to employers on an on-going basis.

GCIL Employment Services is also piloting GCIL Professional Careers, a graduate programme that seeks to address the under-representation of disabled people in social housing across Scotland. This is a two and a half year programme where the trainee is based within the housing association for four days per week and one day per week at university, where they carry out a Post Graduate Diploma in Housing. By the end of the programme the trainees will have gained substantial experience in housing and reached a level of qualification that 95% of current housing professionals do not attain, therefore providing the opportunity to carve out a long-term future as a housing professional.

We believe that the services we offer are pioneering in that we offer a wide range of opportunities to a disadvantaged client group and that they point the way for other organisations to learn how to assist people who have been wholly dependent on benefits to become financially self sustaining.
www.gcil.org.uk