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Single mother sets up business with our support

  • craigtaylor99
  • May 29, 2019
  • 2 min read

A single mother from Kilmarnock, Claire McQueen, who has struggled with mental health issues and unemployment for years, has set up her own business thanks to StartScotland’s support.


Why Claire joined the Fair Start Scotland service


Claire, 25, is raising three children all by herself and suffers with depression and anxiety. Unable to get a job that fits around her childcare duties meant she was unemployed for some time which only compounded her mental health issues.


With her confidence at rock bottom, Claire joined the StartScotland programme to start getting the help she needed.


How Fair Start Scotland helped


Claire was teamed up with experienced Personal Adviser, Sandra Grubb, who took the time to get to know Claire, her issues and her aspirations, so that she could start building a tailor-made package of support.


Claire stated that she would like to work for herself as she could potentially make it fit around the family. Claire is a trained beautician so this was an obvious area to explore but she was worried that getting a business up and running, building a client base, whilst having to arrange childcare would leave her financially better off claiming benefits.


Sandra supported Claire to complete ‘better off in work’ calculation and together they discovered she’d be significantly better off working just 16 hours a week.


Sandra also contacted the housing department to ascertain whether she would still receive some support paying rent whilst she got up and running. Claire was delighted with the outcome of both enquiries and ran full steam ahead into starting the business.


Sandra supported Claire to produce and distribute marketing materials including flyers and business cards. It wasn’t long before a salon owner got in touch.


Claire’s now hiring a chair at Salon S in Kilmarnock, she’s already got a full diary and we couldn’t be happier for her.


Looking forward


Our support hasn’t ended there, Sandra’s recently introduced Claire to funding sources, helped her to complete an application form and secured her funding for a brand new nail drill.


Claire’s a different person, her confidence has grown and now has long-term ambitions for owning a salon herself.


We can help you into self-employment too. Complete the registration form at the bottom of the page to find out more.

 
 
 

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New referrals to Scottish Government’s national Fair Start Scotland (FSS) employability service have ended.

 

Current Fair Start Scotland customers will continue to receive the full range of employability support they need from StartScotland to move into work, which could include up to 18 months pre-work and up to 12 months in work support (depending on your circumstances). 

 

From 1 April 2024, No One Left Behind, Scottish Government & Local Governments’ shared approach to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland, will receive referrals previously referred to StartScotland.

 

To find out more about No One Left Behind local employability support where you live, including single points of contact details for all-age services, employability related information and more, visit Employability in Scotland for details.

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If you are currently on the Fair Start Scotland Service and need to get in touch, please call us on:
Phone: 0800 049 7061
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