Employability services: Supported Employment and Individual Placement and Support reviews - responses

Supported employment review - recommendation responses

The review of supported employment within Scotland report - included nine recommendations to improve supported employment delivery.

Our response to each of these recommendations is below.

Recommendation 1: supported employment guarantee

We recommend steps are taken to design a Scottish “Supported Employment Guarantee” over the next 18 months. This would include funding and targets for local areas to drive consistency in access rates. The Guarantee should allow for local co-design of service delivery with people with lived experience.

Our response

Through our No One Left Behind approach, participants receive a person-centred service that is tailored to meet their needs. As announced in our Employability Strategic Plan, this will include a specific offer of specialist employability support from summer 2025.

As agreed with local government, all areas across Scotland will have a specialist service offer in place to support disabled people and those with long term health conditions. This will be a pan-disability approach, tailored to the needs of users. Local Employability Partnerships will retain the flexibility to deliver models which best meet the needs of users in their area, and that reflect the delivery already underway given many already have support employment provision in place.

Although we will not be implementing a Supported Employment Guarantee through No One Left Behind participants have a guarantee of person – centred support and we are committed to involving people with lived experience in the design of services. This is carried out at the Local Employability Partnership level and will be required as part of activity to develop Specialist Employability Support offers across the country, in line with our Employability Service Standards.

Recommendation 2: consistency through data collection

We recommend steps are put in place to drive consistency and oversight of supported employment provision through data collection. This would include access, outcomes and information on the needs and disabilities of individuals accessing support, including through Fair Start Scotland.

Our response

Since these recommendations were published, we have taken steps to improve our data collection through No One Left Behind. Information on disability and long-term health conditions are now routinely collected and published as part of the quarterly statistical update for No One Left Behind, including breakdowns for these groups by age, parental status and local council. In addition, we are now routinely publishing data on the progression of participants by disability and long-term health condition. Our Shared Measurement Framework data template, introduced in October 2022, also provides more detail than was previously available, for example we are now able to report on those with full or partial loss of voice and those with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The Employability Strategic Plan includes an action to further develop the Shared Measurement Framework.  We will continue to work with partners to develop our reporting to ensure we understand how Specialist Employability Support is operating and the impact it is having.  

Recommendation 3: quality and assurance development

We recommend that supported employment quality standards and an assurance approach for Scotland is developed. Establishing a steering group of providers, commissioners, national government, employers and people with lived experience can support this work.

Our response

As part of the continued development of Specialist Employability Support, we will continue to enhance our Service Standards and Relationship Management processes to support implementation.

We will with our local government partners, convene a working group to support the development of this activity at a national level and ensure a range of voices are involved in shaping the work required to drive implementation.

Local Employability Partnerships will retain their responsibilities around engaging with providers and those with lived experience during the design and commissioning of services. Assurance around delivery will continue to be supported by existing partnership governance arrangements in place for Employability.

Recommendation 4: national supported employment infrastructure programme

We recommend that a national supported employment infrastructure programme is developed and commissioned. This programme will:

• support the implementation of the Supported Employment Guarantee by undertaking quality reviews - driving high performance through data and operational support, and will support workforce development

• facilitate the work of the supported employment steering group

Our response

Specialist Employability Support will be delivered through our No One Left Behind approach, and the broad infrastructure is now in place to support Specialist Employability delivery, including quarterly reporting.   

Recommendation 5: professionalisation of the supported employment workforce

We recommend that work continues to support the professionalisation of the supported employment workforce. This will involve:

• developing entry level training materials for individuals new to supported employment
• reviewing existing training programmes - including NIDMAR and PDA to ensure that they are accessible for individuals with learning disabilities, and are tailored to supported employment delivery
• creating a career pathway for supported employment professionals - including marketing of the role and creation of pay standards across the sector

Our response

In taking forward this activity, the working group will consider learning and best practice from past training approaches, including the training supported through Health Services. We understand the importance of having an appropriately skilled workforce to deliver Specialist Employability Support. It has been agreed, jointly with local government partners, that key workers delivering specialist services will receive appropriate training, including joint sessions with health and specialist organisations.

We do not intend to review or endorse specific models of training or qualifications. We will ensure that the working group fully consider the premise of this recommendation in ensuring the contribution and skills required to deliver these services is valued.

We also do not intend to create career pathways for supported employment professionals, including the marketing of the role and creation of pay standards across the sector as this is a decision for the recruiting organisation.

Recommendation 6: support for people with disabilities

We recommend employers are encouraged to deliver more support to people with disabilities. This may be through taking forward the work of the Public Social Partnership (PSP) hosted by the Scottish Union of Supported Employment (SUSE). This may include setting up a Scottish Centre of Excellence for employers to share best practice; and making funding available for people with lived experience to deliver training to employers, myth bust and raise aspirations.

Our response

The Workplace Equality Fund (WEF) provided over £3.1m funding to 71 projects between 2018 and 2024 to reduce labour market barriers for priority groups - including disabled people - providing support, including training and advice on workplace culture, to enhance retention and progression of disabled staff. The fund supported private and public sector employers to improve their policies and practices to address inequalities in the workplace, and to change employer behaviour with the aim of reducing labour market barriers.

Between 2020 and 2024 funding of over £350k was provided to promote the benefits of flexible and hybrid working and support employers to adopt these through business-to-business events, awareness raising, and practical tools such as case studies and toolkits.

We will take action to promote learning from these initiatives, alongside other support and advice to employers, as part of the ongoing implementation of the Fair Work Action Plan.  In addition, an independent evaluation of the impact of the PSP and WEF is planned for later this year – this will help inform future dissemination of key learning from both initiatives.

Recommendation 7: support for claiming Access to Work directly

We recommend options are explored with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to allow supported employment providers to claim Access to Work directly.

Our response

We previously responded to this recommendation in full and have included below for ease of reference:

This is an operational and policy decision for the UK Government, as Access to Work is a reserved programme. However, DWP has advised that as Access to Work is a discretionary grant scheme tailored to the individual’s in-work support need, the disabled person or person with a health condition must make the application for the grant.

The applicant can ask someone to help them with their application and Access to Work will work with the person supporting them where permission has been provided by the applicant.

Access to Work is aware that employers would like to apply directly for the grant, and this is something being considered. However, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) require DWP to obtain consent to process and record a person’s details at the outset. This is normally done via the gov.uk application in the statement before submitting. Where someone is assisting the applicant, this cannot be taken as permission to discuss the application with a third party - this must be confirmed with an Access to Work Case Manager.

The Scottish Access to Work Stakeholder forum has recently reconvened, chaired by Inclusion Scotland. It offers stakeholders a potential route to raise this policy concern directly with DWP, and to help shape future policy direction.     

Recommendation 8: anchor institutions 

We recommend exploring how “anchor institutions”, such as NHS Scotland, Scottish Government and Local Authorities, can increase the number of jobs available for people with disabilities.

Our response

Significant work is already underway with Health in terms of developing their anchors approach. This includes the development of a Local Employability Partnership Health Anchors Group whose work will strengthen the connections between Health and Employability services. This has been noted as a key action in our Employability Strategic Plan, which we will provide public updates on annually.

Recommendation 9: changes to Fair Start Scotland contracts

We recommend making changes to Fair Start Scotland contracts to remove the requirement for 16+ hours of work, and to require data reporting of the disabilities of individuals accessing supported employment.

Our response

Through No One Left Behind, we do not place any set ‘hours-per-week’ requirements on Local Employability Partnerships. Our policy approach is clear, the hours must suit the needs of the individual.

As noted in the responses above, we will ensure that reporting arrangements are considered as part of the implementation of Specialist Employability Support alongside further development of the Employability Shared Measurement Framework.

In addition, we have committed to promote Living Hours employer accreditation as part of wider promotion of fair work principles. Living Hours includes a guaranteed minimum of 16 hours a week unless the worker requests otherwise. It would be legitimate for an employer to agree with a worker a contract involving less than 16 hours a week if the worker was unable to sustain a longer working week. This would not prevent an employer from gaining Living Hours accreditation (because it has been requested and agreed by the worker). This adjustment would enable an appropriate person-centred response to be provided, based on the number of hours the individual was able to work.