Toucan Employment - supporting people with learning disabilities into employment

The Social Investment Business invested £69,000 from the Futurebuilders Fund in Toucan Employment to support it in funding a move to a new, permanent base in order to expand the range of employment services it offers.

About the organisation

Toucan Employment (Toucan) is a successful supported employment service for people with learning disabilities. Established in 1989 as one of the first supported employment projects in the UK, Toucan now has a long track record of service delivery and innovation in employment services.

Before I came to Toucan, people thought that I was an idiot. Then Toucan found me a job at the House of Commons and now I’ve shown people that I’m no idiot.” - Tony Pedro, service user

Toucan’s employment support includes vocational counselling, job matching, assistance with job applications, and on the job training, most of which are delivered on a one-to-one basis. This support is also provided to people who have higher support needs like users with autism, mobility issues, or challenging behaviour.

“Toucan has been going for twenty years and it’s a support and employment charity for people with learning difficulties’, explains Managing Director Ray Whittaker. ‘It’s a fairly small localised charity in Southwark but we have also recently we have started to work in Brent (North London)”.

The organisation also offers work experience placements for young people aged 15-25; runs a café providing a range of paid employment and work experience placements for its users; and runs parents and users groups, which organise short breaks and day trips.

“We work with lots of different employers, like all the major supermarkets, museums and galleries. We’ve had people as grooms for the Ministry of Defence, we’ve had people in Harrods – we’ve placed people in lots of different jobs, some part time, and some full time. You name it we’ve got it. We are a small project but we’ve been very successful in our outcomes”.

Whittaker declares that the people Toucan service are sometimes really disadvantaged, “they are people who have quite often had difficult lives and appalling services supporting them; tough times at home and for them to get out and get a job its really difficult so us pushing them in the right direction has a massive impact of their lives”.

Tony Pedro, one of Toucan’s users, said “Before I came to Toucan, people thought I was an idiot. Then Toucan found me a job at the House of Commons and now I’ve shown people that I’m no idiot”.

How The Social Investment Business helped

The Social Investment Business invested £69,000 from the Futurebuilders Fund in Toucan Employment in the form of a Full investment. This investment comprised a £50,000 loan to contribute to the purchase of a new office in Elephant and Castle and a £19,000 capital grant to contribute to the purchase and refurbishment of the new office.

“I looked towards The Social Investment Business, Whittaker explains, ‘because of its experience with similar organisations and also thought that it might help us lever in funds from elsewhere, as other funders would value the The Social Investment Business investment process and in effect see us as an organisation worthy of investment. I think that it has definitely worked, it’s given us a boost as a small organisation so that others can recognise our work and see us an important organisation worthy of funding and commissioning confidence”.

Increasing capacity and achieving sustainability

Toucan is now in the process of putting the finishing touches on its new office. The structure is now complete and the Toucan team are rushing around throwing a lick of paint on the trimmings so that they can move in and enjoy the extra space and great location that is more accessible to the majority of its clients. The move to larger premises will allow Toucan to meet the increasing demand for its services and help it to progress as an organisation.

“The Social Investment Business has helped us become more financially astute and taught us to focus on winning contracts to help us become more sustainable. Gaining the capability and the capacity to be able to buy new premises for an office was instrumental and the Futurebuilders Fund really helped us with that,” asserts Whittaker.

Sine 1989 Toucan have successfully placed over 500 people with learning disabilities in employment. It now has a social services contract, a regeneration contract and a youth services contract with Suffolk council. They also hold contracts with Brent Council and regularly receive grants from various other trust funds.

Considering an investment from Futurebuilders?

If you are a third sector organisation delivering public services, or planning to deliver public services, you could be eligible for an investment from us.

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