A job centre is one way to get help if you’re looking for work, but it’s not right for everyone. What if you need personalised, longer-term support to enable you to prepare for work? What if you need your future employer to understand your needs in work so you can stay in work? What if you are transitioning from school to work and have severe mental illness? This is where Individual Placement and Support (IPS) comes in – a government-backed employment service that aims to transform the job-seeking experience of vulnerable people.
Initially adopted on a small scale by the NHS to target those with severe mental illness, IPS is being expanded with the backing of Social Finance, a non-profit organisation that helps our partners to design, fund and scale solutions to complex social issues. IPS is now available in every severe mental health service across England, and is also reaching people with drug and alcohol problems, and those impacted by homelessness.
Matt Tapp from Enable is one of the many employment specialists who tell us that the one-on-one approach of IPS allows support workers to focus on people’s strengths and ambitions. In Matt’s experience, working with clients’ personal motivation is what determines their success, rather than focusing on their diagnosis.
In the last year alone, IPS has helped over 40,000 people to find and stay in work. Government’s Get Britain Working White Paper, announced on 26th November, will deliver an additional 8,500 new mental health staff and will expand access to IPS for severe mental illness, reaching 140,000 more people by 2028-29.
While regional flexibility to deliver services is vital, there are always risks to rolling out a personalised programme on a large scale. To counter this, Whitehall must base the IPS rollout on the key principles underpinning the model, which include focusing on competitive employment rather than volunteering or sheltered work; zero exclusion; openness to all who want to work, and close integration between employment specialists and mental health teams. Failure to comply with the evidence-based model could make the programme hard to evaluate, and could undermine the quality of service for some of our most vulnerable people.
“In the last year alone, IPS has helped over 40,000 people to find and stay in work”
The Youth Futures Foundation says that 39% of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) report having a mental health condition. This group faces unique challenges, including a lack of experience, skills gaps, and lower self-confidence than older adults. This is in addition to other barriers related to housing, education and family circumstances. Using a “fidelity scale” to guarantee that delivery meets a high standard, Social Finance would like to see IPS trialled for NEET young people across the country.
Building confidence
Julie faced enormous barriers to work, but her employment specialist helped her develop the confidence to get a role as an assistant psychologist, working with elderly clients with dementia. Without support Julie wouldn’t have been able to get into employment at all, and she felt relief knowing that support continues should she need it at any point.
Setting up the right environment to offer people support where they need it, in the way they need it, is crucial to the success of our most vulnerable people. As the country faces crisis levels of economic activity, IPS is not just an employment service but a way to work with more left-behind communities to build thriving partnerships and places for long-term economic growth.
Nadine Smith and Niall O’Reilly are directors at Social Finance – a non-profit organisation that helps partners design, fund and scale solutions to complex and enduring social issues in the UK and globally. They launched the world’s first Social Impact Bond in 2010 and since then their work has delivered lasting and widespread change that improves the lives of people and communities.