Support for you

If you are in work your employer can access The Train to Gain service which offers  impartial and independent advice to help them :

• identify skills needs within their business
• source high quality, vocational skills training from which individual employees can benefit

A Train to Gain broker can point your employer in the right direction.
Call: 0800 015 55 45
Visit: Train to Gain West Midlands

For individual  adult careers advice visit: www.nextstepwestmidlands.org.uk

Jobcentre Plus can help.  Jobcentre Plus provide a wide range of vacancy opportunities via their website – the majority of vacancies provide direct access to the employer recruiting. 

To enquire about jobs in your area contact Jobseeker Direct on: 0845 6060 234 or textphone: 0845 6055 255

Jobcentre Plus can help. 

To make a claim to benefit contact: 0800 055 6688 or use textphone: 0800 023 4888
For Information on Benefits contact the Benefit Enquiry Line on: 0800 882 200 or textphone: 0800 243 355
To make a claim for Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits call: 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909
Visit: www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk  www.hmrc.gov.uk  www.direct.gov.uk

The National Apprenticeship Service offers a vacancy matching service, linking businesses seeking new staff to committed apprentices looking for opportunities to work, learn and succeed.

Register your interest on the Apprenticeships website

Graduate Advantage can help.  Paid summer internships, graduate placements, part-time placements and employability training are all available.

Call: 0121 204 4767
Visit: www.graduateadvantage.co.uk

West Midlands Graduate Internships

There are two organisations that can help:

nextstep West Midlands - provides face-to-face advice and careers guidance for all adults over 19 years of age.
Call: 08000 217 244
Visit: www.nextstepwestmidlands.org.uk

Careers Advice Service - provides one-to-one advice and careers guidance over the telephone and online.
Call: 0800 100 900
Visit: www.direct.gov.uk/careersadvice

The Citizens Advice Bureau can help.  The Citizens Advice Bureau helps people resolve their debt, benefits, housing, legal, discrimination, employment, immigration, consumer and other problems and is available to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, disability or religion.

Visit www.adviceguide.org.uk for practical, reliable, up-to-date information;

• practical, up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, including benefits and housing, employment rights and discrimination, debt and tax issues
• links to our directory of Citizens Advice Bureaux
• information in a wide range of languages
• a wide selection of fact sheets to print off
• details of other reliable online sources of information.

Visit The Citizens Advice Bureau to find your local Citizens Advice Office.

The Samaritans can help.  Samaritans offer support, at any time of the day, to anyone in the UK and Ireland who is in distress, including those who may feel suicidal.

Telephoning Samaritans costs the price of a local call, or you can email for free. SMS messages are charged at your standard network tariff. Most branches offer a drop-in service for anyone who wants to speak to a Samaritans volunteer face to face, and although you don’t need to make an appointment, it’s always best to ring the branch beforehand to make sure they’re free.

You can contact Samaritans by phone, email, SMS, letter or face to face by visiting one of 202 branches.

The NHS Stressline can help. Job insecurity, redundancy, debt and money problems can all cause feelings of distress. When times are tough, it’s quite natural to feel worried or down. It’s when these feelings go on for weeks that they can start to affect your health and wellbeing.

Are your worries about the credit crunch interfering with your life? Get some help. Simply dial the NHS Credit Crunch Stressline on 0300 123 2000 and speak to someone who cares 8am to 10pm, 7 days a week. All NHS health advisers are trained to help.

Credit unions can help. Credit unions are a community based alternative to High Street banks and loan sharks and offer savings and great value loans, they are ethical and know what their members want. Many credit unions now offer a range of services including a current account, benefits direct, ISAs and Child Trust Funds.

Each credit union has a "common bond" which determines who can become a member of the credit union. The common bond may be for people living or working in the same area, people working for the same employer or people who belong to the same association, such as a church or trade union.

Find out if there is a credit union you can join near you by using the Association of Credit Unions’ search facility.