Minister for Employment Meets our Mums!

It’s not every day that you get invited to host a virtual round table with the Minister for Employment!

The day before half term, the Minister for Employment emailed to say she'd like to speak to us about our work as ”we've been admiring you for a while now!”

Fast forward to this week and Mims Davies MP listened to the barriers our Mums have faced to work, and how we're working together to move forward and restart their careers.

It was really fantastic that four of our Mums joined us, even though it was the first hour of placement for two of them in Bath! Current Bath May participants Agata, Bethany and Rebecca talked about the challenges they are facing with the top three being confidence, child care responsibilities and a lack of recent work experience. They were also joined by the wonderful Irene, a Bristol 2020 graduate, who was also able to speak about her experience of last year (with all the challenges that we were up against!) and her tenacity in pushing forward to secure a role with the NHS. She is now on an apprenticeship at Southmead Hospital as a healthcare support worker.

A huge thanks to Claire Lynch from Bath & North East Somerset Council for believing in us mid last year and fighting hard to get the DWP funding that's contributing towards our Bath costs now - hopefully today will mean we can have their support in the future. And also grow to more areas across the South West and beyond.

We were also joined by Loretta Gibson from University of Bath and Kirsty Green-Mann from Burges Salmon LLP who has been championing our cause for some time.

Following the meeting Mims Davies MP said; “It was fantastic to meet the mums and hear how the innovative support of the Women’s Work Lab, working with the DWP, is really helping them bounce back into work and help set them and their little ones up for a better future.

“This has been a really challenging time for lots of people, particularly busy mums who have had to juggle more than most including home schooling, but with our Plan for Jobs we’re levelling up opportunity across the country and helping people – at any age and any stage – to get back into work and progress.”

Applications are now open for our September programmes in Bristol and Bath. We would like to hear from Mums who are not currently working and are in receipt of Universal Credit. You can apply here