A WIRRAL organisation helping vulnerable and hard-to-reach people into work has honoured its outstanding service users.

The ReachOut Partnership has helped 849 people into work in the past year alone, with a sustainable success rate of 50 per cent and on target to reach 65 per cent.

The group of outstanding achievers come from a variety of backgrounds across the borough. They have worked hard to turn their lives around and overcome multiple barriers within their lives.

Funded and backed by Wirral council, ReachOut was formed by a cohort of agencies – Involve Northwest, The Social Partnership, Advocacy in Wirral, Remploy, Wirral Change and Inclusive Access.

Since its launch, it has supported more than 20,000 people across Wirral, with 4,662 job starts across a range of sectors.

The awards celebration, which also celebrated local employers, was held at Wallasey Town Hall. It was attended by a host of dignitaries, including the deputy mayor Cllr Steve Foulkes and council leader, Cllr Phil Davies.

Among the award winners were:

  • 20-year-old Terence Dicken-Navien (Young Person Award) who was supported into work with Sun Valley after a term of unemployment.
  • BR Contracting (Green Employer Award) which has taken on 10 employees through the ReachOut programme.
  • The Viking Community Café (Social Enterprise Award).
  • Staff from Lairdside Communities Together (LCT), who worked with the trustees of the Viking Centre to secure funding for a number of training programmes aimed to equip local residents with the requisite skills and qualifications to start running the café.

Grant funding is also being used to fully refurbish the current coffee bar space into a purpose built community café – set to open in the New Year.

Involve Northwest chief executive Justine Molyneux said: "These awards are a fantastic opportunity to show everyone the great work and success stories that come through the ReachOut partnership.

"Each person who received an award was able to stand in front of the ReachOut partners and stakeholders and present their story, and how ReachOut has helped them to turn their lives around.

"Bearing in mind the problems that these amazing individuals have had to overcome, to speak about their experiences in front of people is a real achievement.

"We are also very grateful to our employer partners who work with us to find sustainable work for Wirral people.

"These awards are a true testament to the work of all the partner agencies, advisers and mentors, who instil our service users with confidence, motivation and a renewed sense of purpose.”