Sky’s the limit for Orbit customers

Social housing customers across the Midlands, East of England and South East are to benefit from a brand-new employability course run by leading training provider, We Are Digital. Orbit is investing in this project to improve digital literacy rates among its customers, giving them the necessary IT skills to compete in today’s competitive jobs market.

Debbie Wilson, employment skills and enterprise team manager at Orbit, said: “To apply for a job these days, you need to have internet access. It has become crucial that applicants are digitally literate.

“Group Employability (GE) is the second digital inclusion course we have offered to customers, and we are seeing positive outcomes in terms of participants’ understanding and confidence with online activities. This has meant that we have also been able to put more of our own processes online.”

This is not the first time that We Are Digital has worked with Orbit. In September 2016, after only four months of running a new financial inclusion programme (FI), We Are Digital and its partners engaged 183 participants and saved residents a total of £10,970.

We Are Digital has also been running Orbit’s At-Home Support digital inclusion programme for 2 years, offering customers specialist in-home training to get them online.

Matthew Adam, Chief Executive Officer of We Are Digital, said: “Our experience has shown us that teaching topics that are relevant to people’s lives is the best way to improve engagement. To accomplish this, we have developed specialist courses that are practical and apply to real-world scenarios. We work hard to ensure a high level of attendance from participants, and we’re proud to have one of the best engagement rates in the sector among the hard-to-reach.”

To find out more about these courses or any other support in your area please email us on betterdays@orbit.org.uk or call 0800 678 1221