New Employer Information
Thank you for providing Roots and Shoots students with a new work placement opportunity.
Find below a list of resources, as well as guidance on the essential things we require to keep our students safe at their work placements.
Resources for new Employers
The Roots and Shoots Careers Team along with our SEN Coordinator support all employers to help make every work placement successful. If you'd like to learn more about Supported Employment, we have compiled a list of useful resources:
Become a Disability Confident Employer - a free Government resource with guidance for employers new to working with people with disabilities.
The British Association for Supported Employment - BASE is the national voice for providers of specialist employment support with a range of support available, which Roots and Shoots is a member of. BASE provides a range of resources from online to specialist training.
Preparing for Adulthood Employment Resources - a range of resources for both employers and employees
HFT Tap Into Talent Toolkit - Information for employers which highlights the benefits for employers and busts negative myths about disability and employment
See Ability Employer Learning Hub - A range of resources and guidance for employers new to working with employees with additional needs
Confirming Student Attendance
We have a duty of care to our students whether they're onsite or offsite, and so it’s essential to find out if our students have arrived at their work placement with you safely. Please let us know by filling in our quick Online Register each day they work with you, or with one of the other methods on the Online Register page.
Risk Assessments
Students cannot begin their work placements without a signed risk assessment.
If you have a risk assessment in place, let us know and send a copy to careers@rootsandshoots.org.uk. If you don’t have your own risk assessment, that's ok and there are several options. You can use our simple template to complete an assessment and send it to us, or we can also arrange to visit your workplace so one of our team or a specialist can carry out the assessment.
We have a partnership with Southwark Education Business Alliance who are risk assessment specialists support all of our risk assessments. You may receive a call or email from them but we are always on hand to support you and our students on an individual basis.
Our Insurance Policy
We have public liability insurance in place. This means there is protection against the very unlikely possibility that a claim arises from one of our student’s work placements. Please contact us if you need to see any insurance policy documents.
Work Placements during holiday time
Employers are under no obligation to host students during days which fall outside of college training time.
Roots and Shoots follows Lambeth Term Dates which can be found here.
If an Employer wishes to offer additional work placement time then we would welcome this opportunity however please bear in mind that our office will be unable to check attendance and due to a reduced staffing team we would be less able to respond to any emergencies.