Guidance

Chapter 6: Pre-Work and In-work Support

Updated 10 May 2023

Applies to England and Wales

High Level Must Do’s

1. During the Introduction/ Initial Engagement period, Providers will concentrate on getting to know the Participant, developing a tailored and supportive programme focused on addressing barriers.

2. During Pre-Work: Providers will source an employment experience during their time on provision, which should be a total of 16 hours, unpaid.

3. Providers will continue to provide the intensity of support required to address barriers and move Participant into work.

4. Where the Participant finds employment, Providers must supply In-Work Support for a minimum of 182 days, with an offer of weekly contact, and support for the Participant and the employer, to help Participant sustain work.

5. Providers must draw up a timetable for the transition of support to the employer, and engage the support network to help Participant sustain work.

6. Providers must complete An Employer Support Plan and issue to the employer within 10 working days of the Participant starting employment.

7. Providers will complete the Exit Activity Plan, when Provider support ends and they transition the Participant support to the employer at the end of provision. Plan to be issued to Participant within 10 days of provision ending.

Data Protection Legislation and Data Sharing

You must ensure that you follow the requirements around Data Protection Legislation and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) taking into account your Contract Terms and Conditions.

In relation to the sharing of data, providers should also adhere to all requirements as laid out in Generic Provider Guidance Chapter 8 – Information Security.

The Participant Journey

6.01 The Participant’s journey will be tailored to an individual’s needs, focused on reducing barriers, managing aspirations and providing consistent, intensive support throughout their period on provision.

6.02 It will consist of three main areas which are flexible to the Participant’s needs:

• The Introduction – During the Initial meeting, engagement and needs assessment period, the provider Key Worker will work with Participants to forge relationships, get to know the Participant, identify and begin to address the barriers, plan their journey and develop a trusting relationship.

• The Pre-Work Support Period – supporting the Participant into work. This is where the Key Worker focusses on addressing the Participant’s barriers to employment and the skills needed to find and sustain employment. Participants will also be provided with experience of the working environment; and,

• The Sustained In-Work Support Period – where the Participant has started employment but needs continuing support to remain in work. The Provider also provides a service to the employer, investing in the sustained development and up-skilling of the employer and their staff with the aim of transitioning the ongoing IWS responsibility to the employer once provision has ended, maximising the use of existing support, particularly Access to Work (AtW).

6.03 The Participant’s journey to employment is not a linear one, and you will need to provide a flexible journey for Participants, taking into account their individual barriers, experiences and abilities.

The Introduction - Supporting the Participant into Work

6.04 A key indicator of Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) eligibility is that Participants, at the point of referral, are ‘more than twelve months from employment in the labour market’. You must ensure that Participants receive the intensive and focused level of support that is appropriate for their individual needs, and moves them nearer, and into, work.

6.05 During the initial engagement period, you will concentrate on getting to know the Participant, developing a tailored and supportive programme focused on areas including:

• holding an initial face to face meeting with the Participant and beginning the initial needs assessment within 15 working days of the date the referral was made – see Living with COVID-19 box below
• building trust, relationship building, confidence and engagement
• re-engagement, where required
• managing aspirations and setting realistic aims, objectives and agreeing an Action Plan which should be reviewed every four weeks as a minimum
• planning progression based on the Participant’s capability and addressing barriers
• identifying and developing the Participant’s support network
• starting to address immediate and fundamental barriers through an agreed support package

Living with COVID-19

The expectation for IPES is that the Initial Meeting between the potential participant and Key Worker should be face-to-face, including all subsequent 4-weekly Action Plan Reviews.

With Government COVID-19 restrictions now removed, this face-to-face activity should resume, with digital Meetings held only by exception. Where meetings are held digitally, the reason for not holding the meeting face-to-face must be clearly recorded on the Participant records, in anticipation of Performance Compliance Officers (PCO) checks.

Pre-Employment Support

6.06 Providers must deliver personalised support tailored to meet the needs of each Participant to help them overcome any health or social barriers to work, and make progress into employment or move closer to employment.

6.07 Participants will need a wide range of employment interventions to support them in their journey towards work. This may include but is not limited to, job carving, as well as steps to employment, such as work tasters, work experience, volunteering opportunities and supported internships and work trials. Where a Participant wishes, the Provider will support them in pursuing self-employment opportunities and will develop a support package to help them achieve this.

6.08 At an appropriate stage in the Participant’s journey, dependent on the Participant’s progress, you will look to offer and arrange, as appropriate, experience in a work environment. The requirement is that you will ensure that all Participants have experience in a work environment of 16 hours, unpaid, during their period of support on the provision, and any such experience should be tailored to the individual.

6.09 Where the Participant obtains paid work experience, this takes precedence over the 16-hours experience of work, and may be counted towards any future outcome payments. However, in line with Chapter 7 of this Guidance, and the section entitled Employing Participants within a provider’s business or supply chain, you cannot claim or receive an outcome payment for anyone you or your supply chain partner(s) employ directly or indirectly, or use/contract with on a self-employed basis, for the period they are employed by you or your supply chain.

6.10 All action to support appropriate experience in a work environment must be agreed with the Participant and recorded on the Action Plan, as will the total number of hours attended.

6.11 During the support into employment phase, Participants will continue to require the same intensive contact and support, and some may even require more intensive support to address any concerns or anxieties that they be experiencing at the prospect of entering the work environment.

6.12 Participants may disengage with you at any time along their IPES journey and, should they fail to attend an appointment or participate in an agreed employment activity, you must contact the Participant within 24 hours to establish the circumstances surrounding the disengagement.

6.13 For full details on Disengagement and the process you should follow, please refer to Chapter 4 of this IPES Guidance.

6.14 You should continue to work intensively to support the Participant in preparing for their experience of work, to include:

• ensuring that the Action Plan is work-focused and based on the Participant’s job goals and capability
• developing work-related independence skills, for example, mobility training, use of assistive technology, arranging work placements or experience of work or work trials, where appropriate
• continuing to address the barriers that may impede the move into work
• continuing development of the Participant’s support network ready to support them in employment
• continued weekly face to face contact and support from the Key Worker. Participants must be offered, as a minimum, weekly face-to-face contact and any additional contact as required. To ensure the frequency and intensity of support a face-to-face meeting must, in any event, take place at least once every 4 weeks – see Living with Covid-19 box above.

Other examples of support activities are listed below. This list is not exhaustive, the support activities required will depend upon and be driven by each Participant’s needs:

• using volunteering to provide experience of the work environment
• any relevant training
• providing job interview experience
• supporting them with any accommodation or housing needs, for example, engaging with voluntary or charitable organisations
• providing budgeting advice, including a Better Off In-Work calculation
• appropriate signposting to medical support, including both physical and mental health support, counselling and mentoring
• providing advice on engaging in the workplace, and helping Participants to understand expectations and standards
• attending the first day of any work experience or trial to help the Participant adjust, and offering weekly, or more, contact to address any issues

Impacts on State Benefits

6.15 You must explain and calculate the impact on any State Benefits of any experience of work on individual Participants, and ensure that these are fully understood before they commence work. You may be asked for evidence that this has taken place.

Employment opportunities

6.16 You will be expected to build and use links with suitable employers, including social enterprises, to find suitable and relevant experience of work for Participants. Intermediate Labour Market (ILM), Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and job carving may be appropriate as a stepping stone towards unsupported sustained employment.

6.17 Where a Participant prefers, you will support them in pursuing self-employment as an option.

6.18 You will need to ensure that the employment opportunities you provide are wholly suitable for IPES Participants.

Participant finds employment

6.19 Where a Participant finds employment within 456 days of starting provision, you should provide In-Work Support as detailed below and ensure that the relevant PRaP action has been undertaken. IPES-specific PRaP Guidance has been issued to providers and is also available through PRaP (UPK).

6.20 Where a Participant’s employment (or self-employment) ends before day 456, the Participant will move back into Pre-Work Support.

Employer focus

6.21 A key focus of IPES is the provision of an experience of employment and then intensive In-Work Support to help the Participant sustain employment. In order to achieve this, you will need to work closely with employers and support them in understanding the needs of each Participant.

6.22 This includes increasing the employer’s awareness and capability to leave a lasting legacy after the provision ends, and facilitating the likelihood of organisations employing other disabled individuals, as well as being better able to deal with unexpected short-term issues that may impact IPES Participants, for example, an office reorganisation or change to shift pattern.

6.23 Providers will have a major role in developing the confidence of employers to accommodate disabled people in their workplace and to understand the principles of Disability Confident.

For further information on Disability Confident, please refer to Chapter 1 of this IPES guidance.

6.24 Disability Confident monitoring will form part of the obligations that Provider are required to meet. The requirements will be set out in JAGGEAR, and will include milestones for the submission of Disability Confident returns.

In-Work Support (IWS) and Sustained In-Work Support

6.25 You must offer individualised intensive IWS to all Participants who have found employment, to help them stay in work.

6.26 IWS should be provided by the same Key Worker as throughout the programme, to ensure the frequency and intensity of support. If the Key Worker is unable to personally provide the required IWS, they should arrange and personally oversee consistent support for the Participant.

6.27 Continued contact and support from the Key Worker must be offered as a minimum of weekly face-to-face contact, and any additional contact as required. To ensure the frequency and intensity of support, a face-to-face meeting must in any event take place every four weeks – see Living with Covid-19 box above.

6.28 The Participant’s Action Plan must be updated when the Participant enters employment, and at least every four weeks throughout the IWS period, to support the following actions, which include but are not limited to:

• where appropriate:
  • being accompanied to the workplace in the early days of employment; and,
  • support in meetings with the new employer and work colleagues
• other practical actions, involving:
  • socialising and integration in the work environment
  • pre-start visits for familiarisation
  • establishing a buddy in the workplace etc.
• continuing engagement with the Participant’s wider support network, both formal and informal, to facilitate the Participant staying in work;

6.29 To ensure any required Access to Work assistance is in place when the Participant needs it, you must consider what necessary steps and timescales are needed to implement, and fully support the Participant in making their claim to Access to Work.

6.30 Applications for Access to Work must be made as soon as a firm job offer has been received in order to prevent any delays in the Participant commencing work. Any steps taken to apply for Access to Work must be recorded on the Action Plan.

6.31 You must explain and calculate any impact on state benefits of going into employment for individual Participants, including any necessary actions required, and ensure that these are fully understood by the Participant before commencing on IPES provision. You may be asked for evidence that this has occurred.

Self-Employed

6.32 The same level of support will be expected for those Participants who choose to become self-employed. You should continue to support the Participant with ongoing management of their barriers to employment as you would with employed Participants. You will support them in pursuing self-employment opportunities and will develop a support package to help them achieve this. The support network should be developed to support the Participant in work and help them to sustain employment.

Recording the Extension period for In-Work Support

6.33 Where a Participant has received 456 days of support (consisting of Pre-Work Support, or both Pre-Work Support and In-Work Support) provision can be extended to allow for a maximum of 639 days of support, provided that a Participant is receiving In-Work Support on day 457 onwards. The period from day 457 is known as the “Extension Period”. The Extension Period must be input prior to the 456 days being reached, where the Participant has received an offer of employment, or is due to start work.

6.34 Failure to input the Participant’s extension period will mean that after day 456, the system will automatically record an end date.

6.35 Participants cannot remain on, or return to, Pre-Work Support between days 457 and 639. This period is designated as the period for In-Work Support only, and if Participants are not employed and do not require In-Work Support then they must exit the provision. Please see Chapter 8 of this guidance for exiting the provision.

6.36 Full detail on the action required to update PRaP can be found in the IPES-specific PRaP Guidance, available through PRaP (UPK).

6.37 For a list of relevant IPES PRaP leaver codes, please refer to Chapter 3, Annex 3.2 of this IPES Guidance.

Supporting Participants to sustain employment during the In-Work Support extension period

6.38 If during the minimum 182 days of IWS, but after the 456-day (Pre-Work Support) period, the Participant experiences problems with sustaining their employment, you should provide immediate support to help them, and address the reasons, wherever possible. Responding rapidly at this point is vital to ensure the Participant remains engaged with work and the employer, and sustains their employment.

6.39 As part of the work with the employer to support the Participant in sustaining employment, you will have agreed an Employer Support Plan with the employer, which may assist in providing appropriate support.

6.40 You should also engage the support network, both personal and professional, in helping the Participant to sustain their employment.

6.41 If the Participant is unable to address their issues at this stage and their employment ends, then they will no longer require IWS and must exit the provision, in which case an end date must be input manually in the DWP IT system and the IPES Progress Report completed.

Please see Chapter 8 of this guidance for further information on exiting the provision.

6.42 For a list of relevant IPES PRaP leaver codes, please refer to Chapter 3, Annex 3.2 of this IPES Guidance.

Working with the employer

6.43 You should also focus on working with the employer so that they can continue to support the Participant to remain in work after the provision has ended.

6.44 This could involve:

• future proofing, through helping the employer to understand the Participant’s needs, both to support them in taking on other disabled, disadvantaged or individuals with complex needs in future, and in managing crises
• introducing them to the principles of Disability Confident
• developing, or introducing them to, local support networks
• introducing the employer to relevant Customer Representative groups, for example, RNIB, MIND, National Autistic Society etc. to help them understand the Participant’s needs and to provide advice and guidance where required

The Transition from Provider Support

6.45 In order to work towards the Participant’s independence and sustained employment, you should work with the employer to plan the transition from support offered by you to support offered by the Participant’s wider support network, including the employer. All actions to transition support should be documented on an Employer Support Plan, and available for DWP to check, where requested. Please see Chapter 8 for details of the Employer Support Plan.

6.46 The Employer Support Plan must be completed and issued to the employer within 10 working days of the Participant starting employment with them.

6.47 You will need to draw up a timetable for the transition of support which should be contained in the Employer Support Plan, and agreed with the Participant and the employer.

6.48 This transition should work towards ensuring a smooth transfer of support from the provider to the employer (and the Participant’s support network), over an agreed timescale.

6.49 Where support is also required for the employer, this could include, as a minimum (and in conjunction with actions as at 6.42):

• meeting with employers and their staff
• encouraging employers to find champions/advocates within their workplace
• incorporating the employer into the Support Network

6.50 In relation to the sharing of data, providers should adhere to all requirements as laid out in Generic Provider Guidance Chapter 8 – Information security.

IPES Exit Activity Plan

6.51 When you are transitioning the Participant to the employer at the end of the period of In-Work Support, you will complete the Exit Activity Plan, detailing all the steps required to keep the Participant in employment, including, for example, all adjustments, Access to Work support, engagement with professional and personal support groups etc.

6.52 This plan should be sent to the Participant within 10 working days of the Participant completing IPES provision.

6.53 Further detail on the completion of the IPES Exit Activity Plan can be found in Chapter 8 of this guidance.