Students Break Barriers to Employment on Retail Programme

Six participants have recently completed the Breaking Barriers Retail Programme, delivered by South Eastern Regional College (SERC) in partnership with Mencap and Tesco.

Funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE), the Breaking Barriers Retail Programme offers retail training and additional support to benefit individuals who are disabled, neurodiverse and have barriers to entering employment. 

A tailored six-week programme was implemented in the classroom at SERC’s Bangor Campus, where participants received training in customer service, health and safety awareness and fire safety awareness, as well as improving skills including team working and communication.  

After the classroom training, the participants carried out a six-week work taster in Antrim Extra, Newtownbreda, Bangor Springhill, Bangor Bloomfield Centre, Lisburn Bentrim road and Knocknagoney Tesco stores. Whilst on placement, they received work coaching and support to enhance their personal development, and mental health, as well as their independent working and interview skills. 

SERC Head of Business, Innovation and Partnerships Emma Finney comments, “SERC were delighted to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Mencap and Tesco on the Breaking Barriers Retail Programme. The funding from DfE enabled us to create a valuable framework with all the right partners to ensure a successful outcome for all participants.” 

Mencap Service Manager Lauren Shanks says, “When we launched this programme, our main goal was to equip participants with more knowledge, skills and experience to be able to move closer towards paid employment. Northern Ireland continues to have the largest disability employment gap of all the regions across the UK. The latest figures report that the employment rate for disabled people in Northern Ireland is only 38.3% while the rate for those without a disability is 85.9%. It’s our hope that through programmes like this, more individuals with a learning disability will be able to secure and retain employment across Northern Ireland. At Mencap we have wanted to work with other organisations to implement this kind of positive action measure for a long time, and it’s brilliant that it’s now actually happened.” 

Upon successful completion of the programme, all participants were given the opportunity to apply for a position within Tesco, or if they felt a large retail environment was not for them, their employment officers can support them to explore other opportunities.  

Allison Maher, Lead People Partner Tesco NI, remarks, “Tesco NI are extremely proud to be part of this programme. The achievements of the trainees on the programme are living proof of what’s possible when we work together to support others, making a positive impact in local communities in Northern Ireland. On behalf of everyone at Tesco, we would like to extend our thanks to Mencap, SERC and the Department for the Economy, as well as many congratulations to the trainees who completed the programme.” 

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