UK: new funding for firm project

The UK National Lottery has awarded Social Firms Scotland two years of funding from its Big Lottery Fund to undertake a new project. Social Firms Scotland is an organisation that promotes and supports the creation and development of social firms throughout Scotland to provide opportunities for employment to disabled and disadvantaged people. Its newly project, entitled SFS Employee Support, will focus on benchmarking best employment practice in supporting people into work through social firms. Working directly with social firm managers, mainstream employers, social firm employees and potential employees the project intends to establish a range of good practice that can be drawn on to improve or develop the working environment in social firms. It will also bring together focus groups across Scotland to examine the practical aspects of taking up employment for those people who have experience of mental ill health. One of the key outcomes of the project will be the production of two support packs ? one for employees, one for employers ? based on the experiences and recommendations of the focus groups. www.socialfirms.org.uk