Like many organisations, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) is adapting our ways of working to meet the needs of colleagues, customer and partners through the crisis.
Our responsive career service has moved from face-to-face service delivery to online and telephone. This means we are continuing to;
- retain targeted support for school pupils in the senior phase, alongside the support of local authority partners
- provide targeted and universal support for adult customers including Next Steps
- deliver our PACE redundancy support for employers, employees and apprentices, both online at www.redundancyscotland.co.uk and through our dedicated support helpline on 0800 917 8000
We have also introduced new services such as the My World of Work Job Hub, which enables employers across Scotland to quickly advertise immediate vacancies, and to support individuals seeking employment at this critical time.
As the pandemic response continues, we are working to augment these services with further support for those that need it.
In the weeks ahead Skills Development Scotland will be launching a range of interim services designed to support individuals affected by the pandemic. These will include:
- Enhancing our web content and launching a helpline for individuals who have been impacted by the pandemic – ensuring through our partnership approach that those who need it get the right support, at the right time
- Enhancing our web content and launching a helpline for pupils and their parents and carers
– to explore their options and make informed choices about their next steps, whether staying on or leaving school
- Developing a career education programme – that will blend digital content and offline resources centred around the Career Education Standard and the CMS Framework
We will be working in a strong spirit of partnership to shape these offers, recognising that many other national and local organisations are currently evolving their own delivery to support the national effort around COVID-19.
We will continue to keep you updated on the development of these services in the days and weeks ahead.