Intensive Personalised Employment Support

IPES is a new voluntary provision covering England and Wales for people with disabilities and complex barriers to work who are referred to as "harder to help". They would be considered by Jobcentre work coaches to be more than 12 months from the labour market without intensive support. The intensive support could not be met by either the existing options available in the Jobcentre or from other DWP contracted provision. IPES focuses on supporting the harder to help group into employment by delivering support tailored to an individual's needs, focused on overcoming barriers, identifying and achieving employment aspirations and providing consistent contact and intensive support throughout the Participant journey. It will consist of three main areas: - Introduction - the achievement of successful outcomes depends on building and maintaining quality relationships between the Participant and a dedicated, consistent Key Worker. The focus in the introduction period should be on forging successful relationships, getting to know the Participant and building trust. - Support into employment - the focus will be on preparing Participants for work which may include preparation for other provision and support. This includes explaining the potential impact on the Participant's benefit payments and sourcing prospective employers to identify appropriate employment opportunities. As the relationship builds between Participant and Key Worker, they will focus on further steps such as partnership working with appropriate specialist services and identifying and establishing a wider support network, prioritising and addressing key needs to support Participants to overcome their barriers to work. - Sustained In-Work Support (IWS) - providing a service to both the Participant and 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).