Services and support within each Local Authority, Jobcentre Plus or Health Board area.
The identification of an individual's needs, followed by an assessment of how severe those needs are, is critical to understanding the barriers faced by an individual and the types of activities required to support them towards and into employment. While the negative is stressed - i.e. an individual's needs and barriers - it is also important to identify and assess an individual's strengths and competencies as this can help give an indication of what types of occupation they may be more attuned to.
The identification and assessment of needs can be carried out through a number of ways including:
Once the assessment is made, it is important that the assessment results are discussed with the individual to see which they agree on and which they are surprised by - i.e. they had not previously identified something as a strength or weakness of theirs. This discussion can then form the basis of a personalised action plan.
If the assessment shows that the individual requires support from another organisation, the individual should be signposted and referred to the most appropriate service. This can be done by email, phone or arranging a joint meeting with the other organisation.
In identifying and assessing an individual's needs and strengths, the following types of features should be reviewed: