Debs Austin of Newcastle-under-Lyme now runs her own house maintenance business offering a wide variety of services from plumbing to decorating, dog walking and general gardening and house cleaning.
At 5ft 4ins and size 10, Debs is practically hidden behind her toolbox when she turns up at jobs. But she then impresses her customers by turning her hand to anything from plumbing to plastering, decorating and even cleaning the kitchen sink. Then, if you like, she’ll even walk your dog.
Debs, 47, took voluntary redundancy from a car manufacturing firm in June 2009 after nearly two years working on the production line there. She had spent some 20 years of her life working mainly in the car manufacturing industry at supervisor level, but also had a four-year stint working for the prison service.
She 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.
Debs said: “The JobCentre referred me to the Programme and they asked me what skills I had. I have always liked painting and decorating and made it my wedding or other special present to family and friends. They always told me I should do it professionally and that I have an eye for colour and design.
“I thought why not and decided plumbing would be useful because sometimes you have to move radiators etc when you are decorating. It went on from there and I have also taken plastering and painting and decorating courses.”
The programme funded two courses for Debs through Construction Skills, which is a partner in the programme offering a wide variety of trade and other skills.
“The people on the course were very supportive”, says Debs. “They thought it was great that a woman was doing these things.
“I’m glad I did it. I spent most of my working life doing fairly monotonous things and now I turn my hand to anything and everything, confident that I have the skills to back it up.”
