1. Supported Employment in the UK: A Profile of Providers and Service Users Justine Schneider, Notts Healthcare NHS Trust and University of Nottingham Justine.Schneider@nottingham.ac.uk & Richard Wistow, University of Durham Richard.Wistow@durham.ac.uk

2. National Survey of EOs Funded under Valuing People initiative Data collected in 2002-03 Partners in study: Remploy, JCP, Shaw Trust, Scope, Mencap, service user spokespersons Association for SE (in England), the Welsh Association for SE, the Scottish Union for SE and the Northern Ireland Association for SE also co- operated with the survey

3. Definitions Supported employment (SE) – real jobs for real pay Employment Officer (EO) - spends most of the working time helping disabled people to get or keep a job, paid or unpaid. ‘Specialist’ EOs – those who say that they practise SE defined as above

4. European Union of SE: ‘Over the years, thousands of people with special needs have entered the open market through the support of this methodology which is based on the principles that the abilities of a person, with the appropriate support, can contribute with their work and can continue to develop themselves as active members of society.’ ( )http://www.euseconference.org/

5. Key Questions Where do they work & with whom? What models do they use? How is their practice associated with the employment rates of people with disabilities?

6. Who EOs have as clients

7. Employers of EOs

8. Findings in brief: providers Most work for voluntary organisations or social services. Most work across disability groups. Less than half (41%) have any qualifications. Perceived training needs reflect policy ‘drivers’ (e.g. CBT, PCP). Greater adherence to the practice of SE in: Work rehabilitation/training, Jobcentre Plus, and Supported Employment settings. We call EOs in these settings ‘specialist’ providers.

9. Most recent clients (N=1145) 62% male 44% never worked 22% on IS 48% in paid work

10. Probability of paid work 3x greater for clients of specialist EOs Compared to other disabled groups, people with mhp were half as likely to get paid work and pwld were one third as likely. 1 1 Controlling for age, gender, benefit status and previous work experience

11. What would help? EOs’ views Better ‘marketing’ of SE to employers Raising of disability awareness to increase social inclusion Removal of the benefits trap More secure and longer-term funding for SE Training of EOs: ‘a more accessible, less time consuming and costly qualification, for example, a National Vocational Qualification in SE’.

12. Implications for policy EOs require professional identity, career structure and appropriate qualifications Growing demand may not be met by skilled staff, and we have shown that an orientation towards paid work makes a difference to outcomes People with mhp and even more pwld are disadvantaged in pursuit of employment. Commissioners need to recognise contribution of voluntary sector.

13. With thanks to …