STAFF at Yorkshire Building Society’s Ashton-under-Lyne branch are celebrating the success of a national employability programme that has now supported more than 1,000 people.
The Building Skills for the Future scheme, run in partnership with food charity FareShare, helps people gain confidence, qualifications and work experience to improve their job prospects. More than 100 participants have already gone on to secure paid work.
Colleagues across the Society have raised over £700,000 to fund the initiative, with a target of £1 million by June 2026. Locally, Ashton staff have been backing the campaign since it launched in December 2023.
The programme offers training such as warehouse and kitchen experience, Food Hygiene and Manual Handling certificates, and CV and interview workshops. It also funds free face-to-face sessions on job searching and financial wellbeing.
One participant said the support had been life-changing:
“After losing my job of 13 years I was struggling financially and mentally. This scheme helped me get back into a work environment and feel useful again. To put on steel toe cap boots and do a job felt really good.”
Yorkshire Building Society chief executive Susan Allen said the milestone was “a huge achievement” and praised the partnership for “restoring confidence and helping people move towards financial independence.”
For more details visit www.ybs.co.uk/fareshare.