Case Study

Subhani sets sights on sharing new skills

20 May 2023

Completing a course in childcare is proving a turning point for 46-year-old Subhani from Hounslow. Thanks to Ingeus’s Restart Scheme, not only is her difficult search for work over but she’s in a job she loves and setting herself an ultimate goal of sharing her new-found skills with her former home country, Sri Lanka.
 
Struggling to find a job after taking time out to raise her three young children, Subhani was referred to the Restart Scheme by her local Jobcentre Plus. Thanks to support and encouragement from her Restart Advisor, Jose, Subhani soon overcame her barriers to finding employment.
 
“It was so hard to find work,” she explains, “I was searching and searching but I had been unemployed for so long I wasn’t getting anything.”
 
Moving from Sri Lanka to London with her husband in 2010, Subhani left behind a successful career working as an administration officer in the finance industry. Finding it difficult to secure a similar job in England, her job search was put on hold while she started and raised her family. In 2022, Subhani decided to return to work.
 
She recalls, “When I went to Jobcentre Plus, I explained that I needed to do a training course because it was too hard to find work after being unemployed for so long. My Work Coach suggested I did a course related to childcare so I could find work in a school which would fit around my family.”
 
After being referred to the Restart Scheme, Jose supported her through her three-month course and job search.
 
“Jose helped me to create a perfect CV,” says Subhani. “Every time I met him, he advised and encouraged me to achieve my goal and equipped me with the skills I needed to deal with the situation bravely.”
 
Now, she’s working full-time as a special needs support assistant – a career she hadn’t considered before. It’s also a resource which she says is in short supply in Sri Lanka. One day, she’d like to return to use her skills to benefit children there.
 
She says, “I’m so happy I’ve done the course and got my job. It provides me with friendship, intellectual challenges, and the finances I need for my family. I enjoy working with the children – I’m now not just a mother of my own three children, but I feel like I’m mother to lots of kids!
 
The Government set up the Restart Scheme to provide tailored support to help people like Subhani get back into work after the pandemic.
 
Commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, Ingeus is the lead provider of the Restart Scheme in Greater Manchester and Central and West London. It also partners with Serco, to support the Restart Scheme in Central West Midlands.
 
https://ingeus.com/uk/what-we-do/employability/restart-scheme