From vehicle manufacture to kitchen fitter

Andrew Giles, 49, from Tamworth was made redundant when LDV van makers closed the doors of their Birmingham factory in June 2009 and moved their operations to China. 2,000 people working for LDV’s suppliers also lost their jobs.

Andrew started work at the LDV site when he was 17 and worked there for 30 years, ending up as a supervisor.

He said: “We all thought we were set for a bit while we were at LDV and didn’t really expect redundancy when it happened. Having been in a job for 30 years I suddenly felt I was constantly being upended. It was quite a shock and I didn’t like it at all.

“I was unemployed from then till the following January and unable to claim a lot of benefits because my wife was working at the time. We have a mortgage and a son to worry about."

Andrew was helped through the North Staffordshire Workforce Development Programme run by trade union UNITY through the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP).

The programme gave immediate and specific support to people facing redundancy in North Staffordshire, including funding free skills courses. Advantage West Midlands (AWM) contributed nearly £1.5million in funding and the programme was so successful it was run throughout the region by Unity under the name Better West Midlands.

Continues Andrew: “I had done kitchen fitting in my time so I decided to go for the free plumbing course and got my City and Guilds. I would recommend the course to people. You can’t take it lightly because although they can teach you, it’s up to you to get out and find a job.”

Andrew went on to take a Gas Safe course and is now employed full time using the skills he has learned.