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Social on Business
Business Start-up Provision for
Disadvantaged People |
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4.2.1 Disability Models
Many existing self-employment programmes deal with disabled people but whilst they endeavour to accommodate specific needs these are invariably within the funding restrictions of mainstream delivery and it is not therefore practical for such providers to tailor them to meet specific individual needs.
The Business Ability programme is the only self-employment programme specific to the needs of all disabled people and is, in the main, funded by Jobcentre Plus. There is no mainstream Jobcentre Plus purpose designed self-employment model for disadvantaged groups.
The Business Ability programme differs from all others in that: -
- It is not time bound, in that clients are not pressurised to work at a speed beyond their capabilities
- It has extensive “one to one” counselling
- It builds confidence and self-esteem
- All business advisors understand disability/disadvantage and have a thorough grounding in benefits and in particular “In Work” benefits
- It ensures that clients understand their commitment and if the research the client executes into their business idea proves not viable the client has discovered for themselves and thus gained from the learning experience
- It provides small grant seed funding for market research
The programme has proven its social and commercial success in giving a repayment on investment measured in net benefits saved to the exchequers within an average period of 6.7 months. Over 2,500 people have participated in the programme and it has been calculated that over five years the value of the project has contributed £15 million to the regions GDP. (A full evaluation of this project is available on request)
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