Connect to Work

If you or someone you work with meets any of the criteria below and is unemployed or at risk of losing a job, Connect to Work might be able to help.

• Have a health condition or disability
• Carer or ex-carer
• Care-experienced young person or a care leaver
• Homeless person
• Victim/survivor of domestic abuse
• Young people involved in or at risk of being involved in serious violence
• An offender who is serving a community service or an ex-offender who has completed a custodial or community sentence
• A former member of His Majesty’s (HM) Armed Forces (AF), a member of HM AF reserves, or a partner of current or former Armed Forces personnel
• Have a drug or alcohol dependency, including a history of dependency
• A refugee, a resettled Afghan
• A person in the UK on the Ukrainian scheme
• A victim of modern slavery

What is Connect to Work?

Connect to Work Oxfordshire is a voluntary programme funded by the UK Government to support people who find it hard to find and stay in work. We also provide support to people in work but who are at risk of losing their job.

It is a national programme and we’re responsible for delivering the programme in Oxfordshire. We’re working with Oxfordshire Employment and Enterprise Oxfordshire as well as other organisations to offer specialist support.

How does it work?

Connect to Work in Oxfordshire goes live in November 2025.

When it does, you can either apply to the programme yourself or someone who already supports you might suggest it as an option.

Once you've been accepted, you'll get help finding a job that suits you as well as other specialist one-to-one support, including:

• Vocational profiling and a personalised action plan
• Access to a wide range of employers
• Job-specific CV and cover letter creation
• Mock interviews
• Support in understanding your financial situation
• Travel planning
• Ongoing in-work support
• Career progression and development support once in work

You can’t apply for Connect to Work if you are already on another Department of Work and Pensions programme, for example Restart or WorkWell.

Connect to Work in Oxfordshire goes live in November but sign up to our emails if you want to be kept up to date, or email the team for more information connecttowork@oxfordshire.gov.uk