A Happy Christmas to all who have made 2015 such a successful year for Kennedy Scott
Teresa Scott – Founder and CEO
2015 has been both an important and very successful year for Kennedy Scott.
In the first half of the year we celebrated our 25th anniversary, with visits to each of our centres by local MPs, Mayors and councillors. These were fantastic opportunities to promote the work we do and the commitment of our customers to finding work. We were delighted to receive some really good media coverage for many of the visits.
Over our 25 years we have always been driven by our desire to help get our customers into sustainable careers. We estimate that we have helped more than 50,000 jobseekers into work throughout this time. Many of our successful customers have faced significant barriers in their search for work, for example ill health, learning or physical disabilities, a lack of self-confidence or a criminal record. I know all of our team love to share in the moment of joy when our customers secure work, often after suffering many knockbacks along the way. Getting a job boosts their confidence, gives them greater independence and allows them to support their family with the security of regular pay. I am extremely proud that we have managed to help so many people in this way - it is an incredible achievement and is testament to the talents of our staff, the commitment of our partners, employees and agencies and the determination of our customers.
In 2015 our record has not gone unrecognised. In September we won our first national prime contract, delivering the Specialist Employment Support contract across the country with our partners, Central YMCA. This will see us supporting 735 people who have disabilities, by using our innovative Circle of Support model, drawing on the expertise of internal and external experts to provide a constant bedrock of support. This significant win has also enabled us to expand our workforce, and I have been so pleased to welcome several new recruits to the team.
Our staff have always been out greatest asset and I was delighted that at the beginning of the year we were awarded an Investors in People Gold Award, as well as a RoSPA Gold Award, in recognition of our best practice. I was also enormously proud when in June our Business Manager, Julie Eastwood, won a national ERSA Employability Award, recognising her own learning and development, as well as the benefit this has had for her customers.
In the year ahead, Kennedy Scott will be looking to keep the positive momentum up by continuing to expand, winning new contracts and growing and investing further in our staff. On January 1st we will be launching an exciting new service in Oxfordshire that will help local people with a disability, and I hope to see many more similar initiatives like this.
The future looks bright for Kennedy Scott, and I would like to wish all those people who have helped to contribute to our success; our staff, partners, local employers and also our customers, who continue to be such an inspiration to all of us, a very Happy Christmas and a successful New Year.
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