Accord and BeOnsite help Leon build his turnaround dream
Once described as a ‘one-man crime wave’ with some 50
convictions for drug and crime offences, Leon is now enjoying a new
fame. He’s a winner of the London Week of Peace’s Turnaround
award, a celebration of individuals that are making a difference
to their own lives and others in their community.
While Leon chose to start making a new life for himself, he knew such a change could not happen without help.
“People might think it ironic, but my first call was to the police!” says Leon. “I got great support from the Priority Prolific Offender team. Through them and the Local Employer Partnership I did some basic skills training, which led to me getting a place on the BeOnsite programme.
“I now have skills and a full-time job. Right now I’m building top spec bathroom pods for the Athletes’ Olympic Village. My new life is terrific. I could not ask for more. I have my own family now, and professionally I see there is a ladder for me to climb. I’m so grateful to everyone who’s backed me.”
BeOnsite – breaking barriers
BeOnsite is led by building and development company Bovis Lend Lease. They define the exact training needs for the jobs their contractors have, source the funding, and work with a network of public sector agencies to find people without work, often with challenging backgrounds, that will make good employees.
The programme is not for profit, with any surplus reinvested in training. Over the last 11 years nearly 23,000 people across the UK have gained employment through BeOnsite. At present there are 54 trainees on the programme at prestigious London locations including the Athletes’ Olympic Village, with numbers set to increase rapidly in the next two to three years.
Accord - connecting people with jobs
Leon’s introduction to BeOnsite came through the London Employer Accord. This is an LSEB project co-financed by the London Development Agency, Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus. It supports one of LSEB’s main strategic aims: to work with employers, supporting them as they provide more job and skills opportunities for disadvantaged people.
To date more than 1,000 Londoners have found work with Accord help. By 2012 the Accord aims to grow this figure to 5,000.
Working with partners such as BeOnsite, an Accord Account Director takes responsibility for getting a candidate the right pre-employment training and providing ongoing mentoring support. Both are crucial in helping people adjust to the demands of the workplace.
Making the strategy real
Tom Storey, BeOnsite’s Operations Director says:
“Our success rests on responding to employers’ needs. The construction industry is a fast-changing environment. With new technology and ways of building, especially sustainable construction methods, the traditional trades like bricklaying and joining are less in demand as stand-alone skills. We need providers to keep pace, making courses available that respond to today’s needs.
“The BeOnsite programme has high standards, and we expect people on the programme not only to learn technical skills but also generic workplace behaviours. So we have evaluations of personal qualities such as punctuality, politeness and team working. We are clear that both link to success.”
Asked about current approaches to skills provision, Tom adds: “I think BeOnsite shows how positive and lasting interventions can be when services align across agencies and we aren’t simply working in vertical silos from national government downwards.
“Training must reflect the needs of industry and business. It is the main route for building a competitive economy, giving communities real and permanent work opportunities, and fulfilling the ambitions of government.
“In many ways we epitomise exactly what the London Skills and Employment Board is seeking to achieve in its strategy.”
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