Ross Care for over 60 years has championed its vision for the business of ‘Equipping People for Life’ which remains at the heart of everything we do. In line with our vision, we have partnered with Pure Innovations, a local charity that works with people who face challenges due to disability or health-related issues. The charities aim is to support people to live improved independent lives and facilitate workplace opportunities.

Ross Care is delighted to support the great work of Pure Innovations by providing workplace opportunities for the students it supports, and share a very warm welcome to our new intern who has recently joined Ross Care’s Tameside service centre team. As a business Ross Care has a strong history of providing apprenticeships and work placements for local people, however, we are particularly celebrating our latest intern because of our recently formed partnership. Pure innovations help successfully facilitate pathways between education and the workplace enabling young people with a learning disability or autism to progress into sustainable paid employment. 

Pure Innovations offer fantastic hands-on support which has enabled Ross Care to grow in its ambition for creating workplace opportunities for all. Ross Care representative, Alastair Ronaldson comments on the journey to setting up the internship. “The high degree of support and investment into individuals by Pure Innovations has genuinely made the difference. It’s created a bridge for us to be able to open new work opportunities that otherwise would have been challenging. We experienced some apprehension as to how to integrate students into a busy, and at times, pressured environment. However, at Ross Care, we want to provide the very best opportunities and support for a wide range of candidates to succeed. Through Pure Innovations’ consistent support and ‘job coaching’ we have been given the tools to facilitate their seamless integration and transition into the business. It’s enabled us to grow in confidence with offering such placements and lead to the project kicking-off with real success".

Sam Marsland, Workshop Supervisor in Ross Care’s Tameside team, is supporting the intern as an official workplace ‘Buddy’. “Working with him is great. Kirsty, the Job Coach from Pure Innovations worked alongside us to facilitate the induction and training process, which also gave me useful tips on my communication to compliment his learning style as well as how to be helpful by creating clear structure and instructions. He has quickly been able to work independently, and we are already very much enjoying having him as a valued member of the team”.

Reflecting on the placement so far, Kirsty from Pure Innovations comments that “We’ve seen the change in the interns’ persona from nervousness and shyness on day one, to now confidently setting about his work routine with a large smile on his face. He and his workplace buddy have developed a great rapport, which makes support really accessible to him”

When asking the intern how he is finding the placement, there was no hesitation in his response - “I’m loving it!”, which is fantastic to hear!

Ross Care is grateful to the whole team at Pure Innovations, including Senior Employment Officer Daljet Singh, who guided them through preparations in making the placements available. Ross Care has learnt a lot from them and as a result, is more confident than ever to see the partnership continue and develop. 

Find out more about Pure Innovations www.pureinnovations.co.uk