Telford charity Landau marks 25 years of helping people into jobs

A charity which helps people find employment is marking its 25th anniversary.

Landau, based in Telford, Shropshire, helps about 3,000 people a year through support and training to boost skills and confidence.

Chief executive Sonia Roberts said the charity was set up for people with learning disabilities but now helped anyone facing "barriers to employment".

This includes an increasing amount of young people affected by the pandemic.

Landau supports many different people including those with heath issues, military veterans and the long-term unemployed, Mrs Roberts said.

This year it has included about 800 young people not in employment, education or training (Neets). The charity said it saw a 40% increase in numbers in this group during the pandemic.

Landau started life as a supported employment service set up by the county council for day centre users but, backed by government funding and the newly-formed National Lottery, it became a charity and began helping people into work.

To mark 25 years it has issued a book featuring some of the people it has helped including 27-year-old Daniel Noon.

Mr Noon, who has Asperger's syndrome, "struggled quite a bit" in mainstream education, he said, and was not sure what he would do afterwards.

His passion was for public transport, an interest sparked by his father's job as an engineer for the former British Rail.

Following a Skills for Life course at Walsall College, he joined a Landau study programme covering areas such as numeracy, literacy, teamwork and work experience.

But then he found his "dream job".

A weekly placement with Network Rail led to impressed bosses offering him a permanent job helping passengers navigate Birmingham's New Street Station.

"I always wanted to work with public transport and with trains and where they operate," he said adding he rarely needs his work tablet such is his knowledge of routes and of New Street, the busiest interchange station in Britain.

"I enjoy helping people. I'm a people person," he said.

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