Barnardo’s - Shabir's story

Shabir came to Barnardo’s Works West in summer 2024 and initially took part in our stage one programme Barnardo’s Works Best. He had no work experience and was a young carer for his Mum who does not speak English and struggles to get out and about in the community.

Shabir took part in group sessions and his confidence grew enough for him to progress to our stage 2 Step 2 work course where he took part in site visits, interview skills and visited a jobs fair where he applied for a number of jobs including a warehouse position with Argos. After interview he was offered a 25 hour a week position.

Shabir had taken part in a MyBnk course while with Barnardo’s and was aware that transition into work can be tricky in terms of budgeting especially with monthly pay. He contacted his project worker and made her aware that he was struggling to find the money for food in the home and for lunches while on shift until his first pay and asked if we could support. We made a request to the Hymans Robertson bursary fund to pay for Asda vouchers. This was approved very quickly, and Shabir was able to use the money to ease the transition to work.

He has now had his first pay and is still enjoying his job in the busy run up to Christmas.