Specialist Employability Support providers named

Mon,23 March 2015
News

Minister for Disabled People, Mark Harper, has announced the outcome of the recent commercial procurement exercise to select providers for the new Specialist Employability Support contracts, which replace the existing Residential Training College contracts.

Disability Rights UK hope this means people facing the greatest barriers will get employment support.

Historically those facing greatest barriers - like people with significant mental health challenges or learning difficulties or autism, or people using British sign language, or simply disabled people who have missed out on education -  have often been let down or dumped  by employment support services.

We hope this support will ‎go some way to rectify this and will watch with interest

Specialist Employability Support is intended to focus on helping those disabled people who need the most support to either enter work or to move closer to the labour market and engage in further employment related courses or activities.

The Specialist Employability Support programme features two main types of support:

  • Specialist Employability Support, which consists of intensive, employability support provision,
  • Specialist Employability Support Start Back, which is a shorter-term provision that will help to prepare disabled people for other support provided by DWP or other organisations.

Specialist Employability Support will be provided through six separate contracts, each providing national coverage. All six Specialist Employability Support providers will offer both support options.

The six successful bidders were:

  1. Shaw Trust
  2. Remploy
  3. Kennedy Scott
  4. Steps to Employment
  5. Royal National College for the Blind – for people with a visual impairment
  6. Doncaster Deaf Trust - for people with a hearing impairment

The new provision will go live on 1 September 2015.