Mateusz is a Polish carpenter by trade and in his 50s. However, due to his poor English skills, he has struggled to hold down the kitchen porter roles he had worked in and his latest spell of unemployment had lasted for over six months. Mateusz is attending English lesson but his progress has been slow, and the Jobcentre, struggling to know how to deal with him, rang NewStarts and asked if we had a volunteer position for him. We knew exactly where he would fit in, our woodwork team is always in need of volunteers and skilled workers are hard to find. So Mateusz joined the team with the specific goal of improving his English.
Starting at one day a week, Mateusz soon asked if he could increase his attendance because not only was he enjoying the work, he felt really supported by both the immediate woodwork team, but also the wider NewStarts team. The work that Mateusz produced repairing and restoring furniture was excellent and over the months Mateusz improved his English, but then the Jobcentre said that he had to find a job and quickly otherwise his benefits would be stopped. He had continually applied for jobs whilst with us, without any success and now he was really concerned as to how the cessation of benefits would affect him and his family. Then one day, one of the team mentioned to one of our regular customers that Mateusz was looking for a job. By coincidence the customer was looking for someone to work in his engineering firm. Both were delighted and this turn of events. Mateusz continues to work for him and hasn’t looked back.