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Information for job seekers

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Information on employment support providers in Richmond upon Thames.

Richmond Work Match is our job brokerage service and supports residents of Richmond upon Thames to benefit from the creation of jobs across the borough and South West London.

We have also published resources for supported employment for people with a disability.

Richmond Work Match

Richmond Work Match offers employment support, advice, guidance and training for residents of Richmond upon Thames.

About the service

Work Match liaises with local businesses to identify their recruitment needs and help them fill vacancies with local talent.

Business Engagement and Employment Officers provide a vital link between businesses seeking staff and residents looking for employment. This includes helping residents with CVs, applications and finding vacancies, and assisting businesses with their recruitment processes.

Work Match works with residents to find jobs in the borough, whether currently employed, changing a job role or looking for work.

It also links residents of Richmond upon Thames to training opportunities and can support with employment advice, job coaching and support with applications.

Eligibility

Richmond Work Match is open to residents of the borough who are aged over 16 and seeking to move into employment, whether unemployed, or currently in a job and interested in changing roles.

Richmond Work Match has partner teams in Wandsworth and Kingston so Richmond residents can also access Work Match vacancies from those boroughs.

Contact

You can register for Work Match online.

You will need to provide your name, contact information and details of what help you would like from Work Match. You will also need to provide evidence that you live in Richmond and have the right to work.

  • Telephone: 020 8871 5191

Explore - skills and personal development programme

Explore is a free, six-week programme focused on skills and personal development, offering a range of workshops that introduce participants to wellbeing, budgeting, cooking, barista training, gardening, and woodwork.

About the service

Beneficiaries are supported beyond the programme, with opportunities to stay connected through social activities and a network of trusted partners offering volunteering, skills development, training, education, and employment, helping to reduce poverty and economic disadvantage.

How Explore is different

Explore aims to provide an early step on the personal development pathway, offering:

  • A safe and welcoming space in a friendly and inclusive environment
  • Opportunities for self-improvement and personal development through low-pressure learning
  • Support to increase motivation and build confidence

Eligibility

Explore is for:

  • People aged 18 plus
  • People who are unemployed or on a low income
  • Those living with a mental illness or disability
  • Those at risk of or having experienced economic or social disadvantage

Contact

Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College (RHACC)

Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College (RHACC) is an Institute of Adult Learning (IAL) providing education, training, and careers-focused support for adults aged 19 and over.

About the service

RHACC supports adults to improve their employment prospects, retrain, or progress into further and higher education. Support for job seekers includes:

  • Practical courses designed to build skills for work, career change, or progression
  • Access to Higher Education (HE) courses for adults looking to progress to university and professional careers
  • Financial support to help reduce or remove course fees, including free courses for eligible job seekers, discounts, concessions, and bursaries
  • Inclusive provision for adults of all backgrounds and abilities, including targeted provision such as women-only courses
  • Clear progression routes into work, further study, or higher education, supported by partnerships with employers and community organisations

Located just a two-minute walk from Richmond Station, RHACC’s Parkshot campus provides professional learning environments that support employability and progression. Facilities include a dedicated Business School, specialist co-working and office space, classrooms, workshops, kitchens, meeting rooms, and a multi-purpose theatre. Courses run during the day, evenings and weekends, helping learners fit study around job-seeking or work commitments.

Eligibility

Adults aged 19 and over.

Contact

Richmond Connect to Work

Connect to Work is a national supported employment programme, delivered locally by Richmond Work Match.

About the service

Connect to Work is a revolutionary approach to employment support, adopting a ‘place and train’ method in supporting residents, with barriers to employment into sustainable jobs. Residents are assigned to a dedicated employment specialist who will provide tailored support and engage with employers to find roles that meet their aspirations.

Eligibility

To qualify for the programme, residents must be at least 18 years of age, have the right to work in the UK and belong in one of the following client groups:

  • Have a long-term health condition or disability as defined by the Equalities Act 2010
  • Carer or ex-carer
  • Offender (serving a community sentence) and ex-offenders
  • Former member of the Armed Forces
  • Refugee
  • Care leaver
  • Victim of domestic abuse
  • Young person involved in or at risk of experiencing serious violence of modern slavery
  • Dependent on drugs or alcohol

Contact

Website: Connect to Work - Richmond Work Match
Email: richmondworkmatch@richmond.gov.uk

Richmond Furniture Scheme

Richmond Furniture Scheme is a charity that accepts and collects donations of furniture from the general public in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The scheme also sells refurbished, warrantied appliances and new mattresses.

About the service

The furniture is stored, repaired when necessary and sold for very reasonable prices and discounted to people who are referred with grants or who self-refer as they are on income support.

The scheme provides volunteering and work experience opportunities across a range of activities including warehouse and van operations, administration, furniture repair and refurbishment.

Eligibility

Everyone is welcome to access this service. Volunteers are welcome from all backgrounds and participation at the scheme is subject to interview and induction processes.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 9:30am to 4pm and Saturdays 10am to 4pm. The scheme is closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Contact 

Richmond Trailblazer – Life Reworked

Trailblazer is a skills and employment support programme operating in the boroughs of Richmond, Wandsworth, Kingston, Merton, Croydon, and Sutton, and delivered locally by Richmond Work Match.

About the service

The programme is geared to give residents the right support, guidance, and live opportunities needed to take those next steps towards employment. This could be from learning new skills, gaining a qualification, boosting confidence and finding a job.

Eligibility

To qualify for this programme, residents must be at least 18 years of age, have the right to work in the UK and be economically inactive (not been job searching for the last four weeks).

Examples of client groups supported:

  • Those currently not in education, employment or training
  • Those with long-term health conditions
  • Unpaid carers
  • Those who live in social housing and regularly access GP/health services

Contact

Room for Work

Based in Richmond, Room for Work is a prize-winning charity delivering a gold standard course for unemployed adults.

About the service

The programme is a free employability skills course, presented in 12 lessons, either online or in a live classroom, designed to help older skilled workers, those with experience ranging from administrative to managerial and professional. 

Room for Work will equip you with current employability skills that enable your return to work. The programme provides an active, participative learning experience through a series of presentations and workshops conducted by professionals with expertise in their respective fields. Tailored, one-to-one mentoring is provided for every course participant in one-hour meetings with the course leader.

There is also a social element. You will be with people who are in a similar situation as yourself, gaining confidence by knowing you are not alone in your situation, finding guidance and encouragement at Room for Work.

Several courses are available each term.

Eligibility

Room for Work can help if you are over 40 years old, have had a recent redundancy, are long-term unemployed (over one year) or you are returning to work after a career break as a parent or carer. It also serves retirees who don't have a critical path forward and wish to continue working.

Contact

Follow Room for Work:

SHiFT Intervention

SHiFT works with children and young people who are caught in the destructive cycle of crime and associated behaviours.

Available services

SHiFT's approach is centred around the relationship between each child and their SHiFT Guide. The Guides work intensively with a maximum of five children over an 18-month period, doing whatever it takes to support and enable them to reach their potential.

Contact

Twickenham Jobcentre

The Jobcentre is a combined job searching and benefits service for people of working age. Staff assist with job search activities and benefits claims. Part of the Department for Work and Pensions' Jobcentre Plus network.

Eligibility

For Universal Credit you must:

  • Be out of work
  • Be working (including self-employed or part time)
  • Be unable to work, for example because of a health condition
  • Live in the UK
  • Be aged 18 or over (there are some exceptions if you’re 16 to 17)
  • Be under State Pension age
  • Have £16,000 or less in money, savings, and investments

Contact

Visit the Jobcentre Plus website.

Way2Work Apprenticeships

Way2Work is a professional UK-based apprenticeship training provider offering apprenticeship vacancies and full-time job opportunities for people aged 16 plus.

About the service

The Way2Work service has been successfully supporting young people to find apprenticeship vacancies and achieve their apprenticeship qualifications for 40 years. It works with local employers who value and encourage people to achieve their full potential.

Fully funded by the Skills Funding Agency, it delivers intermediate, advanced, and higher apprenticeships on behalf of London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the Royal Borough of Kingston and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Eligibility

Aged 16 plus. Apprentices will be required to have taken Level 2 English and maths tests before completing their apprenticeship.

Contact

If you would like to become a Way2Work apprentice or think that your business could benefit from the addition of an apprentice, please contact Way2Work:

Up to: Jobs and careers

Updated: 02 April 2026

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