Argonaut Community Enterprises Stephen Dering, ABIFM, ABICSc Co-Director

Who we are Not for profit social firm Set up in September 2010 to provide domestic and commercial cleaning Gill and Stephen experienced in welfare to work - excellent CV/application forms but poor interviews Creating opportunities to show that disabled people can work

We now do.... Catering Cleaning Garden maintenance Plumbing and electrical services Security Washroom hygiene services

Working with W2W providers Argonaut delivers facilities management services for Welfare to Work providers engaging with their customers Argonaut enables providers to access jobs and work placements for disabled customers in a secure, supportive environment

How it works in practice #1 Advance (Solihull) – Welfare to Work provider – Argonaut cleans their Solihull offices – Cleaning posts reserved for Advance customers – After initial period of training and placement, when confidence builds, people move on creating vacancy which is then filled again by Advance – 100% job retention rate

How it works in practice #2 Havant Housing Association – Grounds maintenance for a treatment centre/accommodation – Qualified gardener (deaf) supported by Apprentice Gardener. Work placements offered to CDG-Wise Work Choice customers – Confidence boosters enable people to move onto working in private gardens which Argonaut also has contracts for

How it works in practice #3 Some facilities management services such as PAT testing or washroom hygiene services are staffed from current team or with specialist skills Surplus income from these works are reinvested to provide training opportunities for people to move into an Argonaut role where skill gaps have been identified

Adapting to employee needs Argonaut adapts employment to individual needs – Some are only capable of a few hours per week. We maximise the Permitted Work rules so benefits are not affected including their entitlement to social housing and support Teams are in place with qualified team leaders all with a disability providing role models

Identifying opportunities We would love to talk to you and your procurement teams about developing a partnership that works for you and your customers Engaging customers within your own supply chain in this way is innovative and demonstrates to employers what your customers can achieve

Longer term... Argonaut plans to develop apprenticeship programmes for disabled people who are unable to access mainstream programmes: – Plumbing – Electrical – Catering – Gardening