The Poppy Factory is delighted to have won the Disability and Health Employment award at this year’s ERSA awards. The Poppy Factory’s employability programme is bespoke and evidence-based and helps wounded, injured and sick veterans back into meaningful and sustained employment within their own local communities.  Employment has been shown to restore a veteran’s self-respect and sense of purpose, with their financial independence enabling a further contribution to society.  Today, it is considered the nation’s largest employability service for veterans with physical and mental health conditions.

The winners of the 2019 ERSA Employability Awards, sponsored by Fedcap Employment, were announced this June at a special evening ceremony in London. Hosted by author and entrepreneur, Lucy Clayton, the awards included the video message below from the Minister for Employment, Alok Sharma MP.

The ERSA Employability Awards celebrate best practice across the employment support sector and seek to demonstrate the day-to-day hard work and dedication of those working to improve the lives of jobseekers, communities and the wider workforce.

ERSA received over 150 entries across ten categories demonstrating the breadth of work in the sector.

The award entries were judged by an all-star panel: Phillip Blond, Director at ResPublica; Jane Hamilton, Sunemployment Editor at The Sun; Mark Staley, Assistant Employment Account Director at the Department for Work and Pensions and Tanya Weston, Winner of Adviser of the Year 2018, from Genius Within.

About The Poppy Factory

The Poppy Factory was founded in 1922 to provide employment for service personnel injured in World War One.  These veterans made Remembrance products at the factory in Richmond-upon-Thames and production still continues there today. In recognition of the changing needs of today’s veterans, however, The Poppy Factory launched a new employability programme in 2010.  The programme is bespoke and evidence-based and helps wounded, injured and sick veterans back into meaningful and sustained employment within their own local communities.  Employment has been shown to restore a veteran’s self-respect and sense of purpose, with their financial independence enabling a further contribution to society.   

Today, The Poppy Factory is considered the nation’s largest employability service for veterans with physical and mental health conditions.  Demand continues to rise. In 2014/15, the charity registered 337 veterans. By 2017/18 there were 736.  Last year, our 1,000th veteran with a disability was supported back into meaningful work.

Deirdre Mills, Chief Executive of The Poppy Factory, said:

‘We are delighted to receive this award. It recognises not just the dedication of our own employability team, but the individual success of every veteran who, with the support of The Poppy Factory, has refused to be held back by a health condition as they move forward into a new job or career.

‘In the nine years since our employability programme began, we have helped more than 1,100 veterans with physical and mental health conditions back into meaningful employment. Demand for our expertise continues to rise, and we look forward to helping thousands more veterans fulfil their potential outside the Armed Forces.’

Minister for Employment, Alok Sharma MP, says:

‘I want to thank and congratulate all of this year’s winners and runners-up, for all their fantastic work on behalf of jobseekers up and down the country.

‘We have more people in work than ever before, but projects like these are making sure we spread that opportunity even further and provide vital support to those looking for work.’

Find out more here: https://ersa.org.uk/media/news/ersa-employability-awards-2019-winners-announced

This video was compiled with the help of the InVideo video maker