June Gill, 38 a single mum from Cardiff has found work with the help of Jobcentre Plus after struggling to survive on benefits for 18 years.
June who used to work as a nanny stopped working in 1988 to bring up her children. She decided it was time to consider returning to work to set a good example to her children now aged 12 and 14.
Like may mums returning to work after a long break, she felt apprehensive, lacked confidence and didn’t have enough current experience of the working environment, so approached her Jobcentre Plus adviser, Michelle Bennett, for help.
Michelle sent June on a ‘Look to the Future? course run by Track 2000. It’s a two-week course aimed at helping to improve confidence, motivation, and help set job goals.
Going along to the course was a huge step for June as she was more used to spending all her time at home cooking and cleaning. ?I burst in to tears in the reception area before the course. I was so out of touch with the outside world, I was petrified of meeting people,” June recalls.
“But I needn?t have worried, as soon as I met everyone I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed myself.?
June completed and passed a training course in Business Administration, where she gained the right skills to work in any type of office environment. She then went on to attend a 13-week Business Admin course..
After her training, June?s skills and determination to succeed shone through and following a work placement, she was offered a full-time position with Track 2000 as a training development officer.
June now delivers specialist training to other lone parents and is currently training to deliver other courses to people on benefits.
?My girls are so proud of me – they think it?s brilliant,” says a confident June.
“I have lovely work colleagues and I?m helping people who started out just like me. I know what it?s like to return to work after a long time – you have lost your confidence and self worth. In fact I thought I was only capable of being a cleaner, but I know now I can do, and am worth, so much more.
?The support and encouragement I?ve had from the Jobcentre and Track 2000 has been brilliant. They helped me rebuild my confidence and realise my capabilities. I am now much better off financially,which benefits my children, and I am setting a good example to them.
?I told my girls you must get an education and a career, because when you?re old you will only have yourself to rely on, and I know I have managed and I want the best for my children.
Now a working mum, June know what it’s like to be on both sides of the working fence. But she says that life is much more rewarding when you work and don’t rely on benefits. ?Lone parents can be so much better off in work now, with working tax credits and child tax credit, let alone the financial help Jobcentre Plus gave me. I also got bus fares and clothing and in work credit which gives me ?40 per week for the first year?.
Michelle said: ?June is an excellent example of how single parents can be so much better off in work. Jobcentre Plus doesn?t just find jobs for people, it also offers support, advice, training and even financial support. And then there?s working tax credits and child tax credits which all help.?
June recently won an Enterprise Initiative Award from Jobcentre Plus following her inspiring story of how she has returned to work as a lone parent.
