The Council’s Centralised Placement Service
Q Is there a Council policy on placements?
Yes and there is a centrally administered placement service hosted in the Human Resources, Organisation & Workforce Development Team to co-ordinate them. The Council’s policy is to actively support young people through providing placement opportunities wherever and whenever possible.
Q Can you offer paid work placements?
No – only unpaid placements can be provided.
Q Do you offer traineeships and apprenticeships?
The Work Placement team cannot offer traineeships or apprenticeships. When opportunities arise for these types of areas they are advertised on the Council’s Website and in the Telegraph and Argus.
The transfer of the Council’s Former Housing stock to Bradford Community Housing Trust means that the Council no longer employs high volumes of plumbers, electricians etc as part of its workforce, and can no longer offer apprenticeships in these areas.
Q Is there an age range for people who can request placements?
No - These are most conveniently split into pre and post 16. Pre 16 it is government policy that all young people in school should have “meaningful experience of work” from age 14.
Post 16 there are a range of potential placements requests from schools, colleges, universities and training providers to provide occupational experience for older candidates seeking a career.
Q Can the school just ring up and arrange a placement?
No – if the school does not have independent status then it has to go through Education Bradford as they are contracted to ensure that Health and Safety and Risk Assessments have been completed before a placement can occur. If the school is independent than the request has to come from the School Placement Officer in liaison with Education Bradford for the Risk Assessment to be completed. Schools (who are not independent) will be referred back to Education Bradford if they contact the work placement team directly.
Q What do I need to do to arrange a Post 16 placement?
You will need to complete the pro-forma (form can be found on related links) and attach a detailed CV outlining the specific experience that you are seeking and stating what you can contribute to the placement in terms of knowledge and experience.
Q Can I start straight away?
The request should be made at least three weeks in advance of the intended start date to allow the placement host to plan a work programme for the individual and to arrange their supervision. In some cases there will be pre set work programmes available.
Q Are all placement requests made on behalf of people at school?
No - Placements can be requested by many different individuals for all sorts of reasons. We get requests from universities for under or post graduate work experience, also training providers are keen to obtain placement experience for career changers who can be middle aged or older, it's not just young people of school age.
Q What is the person on placement required to do?
The Central Placement Service tries to establish in advance if the individual is trying to obtain specific experience in support of a school or college based course. Any information we receive will be forwarded to help the placement host to establish a work programme for the placee. A Pre 16 the placement is essentially about general experience of the world of work and is not specifically intended to be a career taster.
