A flagship employment programme for SEND learners has won a year’s extension after hitting its recruitment target.
An extra £1.5 million has been handed to two organisations delivering the Department for Education’s supported internships programme after ministers declared at least 4,500 learners took part in the scheme in the last year.
Though no figures were provided for 2024, publicly available data suggests the scheme enjoyed an impressive comeback after enrolments on supported internships had slumped to 1,526 starts in 2023, following a total of 2,477 starts in 2022.
Supported internships provide 16 to 25 year olds with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) with bespoke learning, a dedicated job coach and work placements of six to 12 months at firms including Asda, Amazon and Goldman Sachs.
DfE pledged £18 million in 2022 for three years. The original support package was to help deliver the government’s target of doubling the number of supported internships to 4,500 across the country per year by March 2025.
Children’s minister Janet Daby said in a recently answered Parliamentary question that the department had reached its target, according to indicative data.
The cash boost went to two existing suppliers – The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE trading as Inclusive Trading CIC) and The National Development Team for Inclusion.
The money will be used to deliver training for job coaches, administering local council grants and signing up employers to offer work placements.
The original delivery organisations also included a charity called DFN Project SEARCH. It is unclear why the organisation is not named in the contract extension.
In November 2023, the Treasury approved nearly £200,000 for additional grants for SEND learners without EHCPs to get into supported internships in 12 local authority areas.
An interim government evaluation of the programme in October found that interns’ biggest challenges were finding the right job placement and losing benefits.
Though the scheme aims to ease SEND learners into paid employment, it has not translated into tangible success.
A previous FE Week investigation found that just one in four special educational needs students remained in employment a year after their supported internship had ended.
The evaluation report found almost half (47 per cent) of interns had a job six months after completion despite securing employment being a “primary goal” for the scheme.
Nevertheless, the contract award documents claimed recent data was showing a “much higher success rate” but did not specify what the higher rate was.
“We know they work,” documents added.
The DfE, BASE and NDTI declined to comment.
DFN Project Seach was approached for comment.
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