The Connect to Work programme is growing in Hertfordshire, welcoming new specialist partners to expand support for residents facing barriers to employment.

Led locally by Step2Skills, Connect to Work provides personalised employment support to residents with disabilities, health conditions, or other personal challenges. The programme is based on a ‘place and train’ model, which enables people to move into – and stay in – meaningful work.

From April 2026, three new organisations will support the delivery of the programme, joining existing partners Sunnyside Rural Trust, SPS Training Solutions, and HACRO. These include:

• Action Deafness: a deaf-led organisation supporting deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing people across the UK. Through services such as Connect to Work in Hertfordshire, they provide specialist, accessible, employment support including tailored guidance to help people with hearing loss build confidence, independence, and access meaningful career opportunities with inclusive employers.
• Get Set UK: an employment and skills organisation delivering tailored support to those facing barriers to employment. Their approach focuses on confidence-building, job ready skills, employer engagement, and in work support.
• Watford Women's Centre: a long-established charity supporting people to build independent and sustainable lives through specialist wellbeing services, tailored careers advice – delivered both to the wider community and in partnership with Jobcentre Plus – and employability programmes, alongside ESOL and IT provision and a free Job Club. Domestic abuse and counselling services are delivered exclusively to women, while all other services are open to everyone.

Hertfordshire Mind Network will also join the programme shortly, bringing specialist mental health employment support, including skills and careers guidance, CV support, interview preparation, and confidence-building.

Together, these organisations significantly strengthen Hertfordshire's Connect to Work programme, bringing specialist expertise, strong community links, and lived experience to tackle a wider range of employment barriers locally.

Hertfordshire is one of the first regions to benefit from Government's £100 million investment in Connect to Work. This national programme is supporting 300,000 people across England and Wales to reap the benefits of securing stable and rewarding employment.

Connect to Work also empowers employers of all sizes, offering recruitment support, job matching, guidance on reasonable adjustments and ongoing specialist advice to help build productive and inclusive workplaces.

Employers can register their interest here: Employment Support at Hertfordshire Futures.

Residents aged 18+ who are unemployed, or at risk of losing their job due to health, disability, or personal challenges, are encouraged to apply to the Connect to Work programme. Visit Step2Skills: Connect to Work, call 01992 556194, or email Step2Skills@hertfordshire.gov.uk.