Whilst business support may be a large part of what the CEIS Group do, another vital part of what we do is to help people get into work, and to help employers keep people in work. That’s why we measure the number of jobs we’ve helped create and sustain each year by offering businesses funding to start up and grow, whilst also keeping track of people we help into employment with our employability programmes.
Our mission is to make Scotland a better place to live and work, and as we live in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it is more important now for us to get people into good jobs that pay at least the living wage.
We’re happy to say that throughout 2021/2022, CEIS Ayrshire and DSL Business Finance managed to help more people than ever before into work and help businesses to continue to employ people.
Maintaining jobs
Whilst CEIS Ayrshire focus on employability and help landing people jobs, DSL Business Finance focus on funding new and existing businesses by giving them access to funding.
Each application for funding received by DSL is assessed by a human, not by an algorithm, which means that DSL is a great place for businesses to get funding at a time when traditional banking may not necessarily entertain them.
Their results in 2021/2022 were well above target. They offered funding to 240 new businesses so that they could create new jobs, whilst also offering funding to existing businesses, helping them all to maintain a combined 1059 jobs.
Helping people into work
Known widely in Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and the Borders for their employability services, CEIS Ayrshire work closely with local partners, and local people, to help people into sustainable employment.
Throughout 2021/2022 they piloted several initiatives to help do this, including running employability hubs for the 16-24 and 25+ age groups. They also worked closely with the Job Centre, and local employers big and small, to help individuals into jobs.
The result was a whopping 642 people supported into employment, and this was more than just getting a client’s CV in front of an employer; this was achieved by offering dedicated, one-to-one support to everyone that needed it. CEIS Ayrshire helped boost their skills and confidence by offering training, helped prepare candidates for interviews, delivered workshops, gave tips on how to write great CVs, providing support to tackle employment barriers and so much more.
Whether it’s an individual or a business we’ve supported, it is clear that our mission to make Scotland a better place to live and work is more than just some words written down on a website – it is a mission that we live and breathe each year. We can’t wait to see how our teams perform in 2022/2023.
If you want to find out more about CEIS Ayrshire and their brilliant employability work, click here.
If you’re a business that is in search of funding, or just want to know what DSL is all about, click here.