Nikolais Story – Work as a route out of debt?

Nikolais is a 40-year-old man. His life spiralled out of control in his younger years, with homelessness, a prolonged period of sofa surfing and sometime within a Young Offenders Unit. He is currently living on £444.00 per month with his girlfriend Miranda. As a result, he relies on Food banks to supplement his diet and his household income. 

His plan is a job as a route out of Poverty. With his background though he is struggling to find even the most basic employment in what he calls an incredibly competitive marketplace: 

Its debilitating – writing application upon application and receiving very little feedback if any from employers, even the larger ones like Tesco. 

He is considering obtaining a HGFV licence as he knows that will open routes to employment for him, but as he states frustratingly: 

The costs of that licence are well beyond me right now, with debt increasing over the last 5 months. 

Nikolais also draws a parallel between the support that some get that he doesn’t: 

I don’t have a drug or an alcohol addiction and therefore I don’t seem to get an extra support to help me into work. It’s like you must have these extra add on issues to get anything from anyone. 

What Nikolais ultimately wants to see is a volunteering placement programme that operates locally that gives him all the skills and confidence he requires to access the employment market, together with a small bursary attached to help him survive. 

He states: 

I want to work with local people who I can get to know, and I can trust. That way, I can throw myself into placements and know that all of my previous issues have been accounted for and will not be held against me.