UCS College Group has successfully completed five Jobcentre Takeover Days across Somerset, engaging with hundreds of local adults in our communities and strengthening partnerships with Jobcentre teams to promote education, skills development, and career progression.
Our college teams transformed Jobcentres in Wells, Frome, Yeovil, Bridgwater & Taunton for the day, giving valuable information to customers on progression across many sector areas.
Essential advice was given on how to access free education to increase skills and progress into employment through educational opportunities on their doorstep. Our engagement with all local Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) teams has attracted extremely positive feedback. 100% of the job centres involved rated the success of the Takeover Days as Excellent or Good for their attending customers, with 90% rating the days as excellent.
Our Jobcentre Takeover Days have been a fantastic opportunity for our college teams to meet local people, listen to their ambitions, and showcase how funded education can open new doors. We wanted to show our full commitment to engaging with our communities and making education accessible for all. Our aim is to support adults in building confidence, gaining qualifications and improving employment prospects. We will continue to work in collaboration with our local DWP teams, to provide skills and training with the needs of our local community at the forefront of our education offer.
Jo Tucker
Deputy Head for Adult Skills UCS College Group
The Takeover Days held in Somerset Jobcentres have been a resounding success, they have been the perfect opportunity for our customers to access information about the support available from UCS College Group to help them in their journey to employment. It was especially rewarding to see the strong, collaborative partnership we have built with Strode College reflected across the wider UCS College Group, demonstrating the value and impact of working together to achieve shared outcomes. We look forward to working with Jo and her team to implement ideas which were generated from the events and to get planning on Takeover Days 2027.
Louise and Ali
Somerset DWP Partnership Managers
Find out more about our Adult Learning courses here: https://www.ucscollegegroup.ac.uk/study/adult-learning/