With the assistance of the Government’s ‘New Deal for Lone Parents’ initiative Rachel Vickers, a single parent from Boston, has been successful in landing a site labourers job with specialist National main contractor Concrete Repairs Ltd (CRL). CRL is currently half way through the refurbishment of the external façade of Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Before giving up work to look after her daughter, Rachel (29) had worked primarily in local factories. Now her daughter is older and settled at school Rachel wanted to improve her financial situation and experience a new challenge. The training and other assistance provided by the New Deal scheme gave her the confidence to apply for a wider range of jobs and when the opportunity to work on the Pilgrim Site came up, she felt it was just the change she needed. She joined the CRL team in mid June.

The New Deal for Lone Parents is designed to get single parents on income support back into work. It helps with the identification of training opportunities, gives job search support, helps with childcare and provides advice on work incentives. "The training and support I received through the New Deal scheme gave me the confidence to consider all sorts of jobs and to take on something completely different – I think the job at Pilgrim is a great example! said Rachel. She continued "The financial help with buying my working boots was an added bonus".

The renovation work at Pilgrim Hospital is being carried out on behalf of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which is spending a total of £12 million on upgrading the hospital over the next few years. It is intended to improve the environment for the staff and patients, as well as extending the life of the building and reducing the hospital’s running costs. The work will yield a dramatic improvement to the external fabric of the structure, which had been progressively deteriorating over the past forty years due to constant battering from the elements. "Work is being carried out whilst the hospital remains fully operational and in order to keep noise to a minimum, hydrodemolition is being used for the removal of defective areas of concrete", said Terry Budd. "To further reduce patient inconvenience, a buffer zone of empty wards is being programmed ahead of the works"The new division will be known as CRL Refurbishment.