“Connect to Work” and the Integrity of Supported Employment?

A Reflection on Personalisation, Readiness, and Regional Realities

Supported Employment has always been built on a radical idea: people can—and do—become ready for work on the job, not before it.This is why the model has always prioritised real workplaces, real expectations, real routines, and real support. It is deeply personal, deeply human, and grounded in individual capability rather than systems-driven assumptions.

But with the rollout of Connect to Work, a nationalised, large-scale funding model intended to support over 80,000 people per year through high-fidelity Supported Employment, the question emerging across regions is this:

Can a deeply personalised model survive inside a highly structured, regionally delivered, output-driven system?

And perhaps more importantly:

Does the current funding model unintentionally create barriers for the very people Supported Employment was designed to liberate?

The Heart of Supported Employment:

Capacity is Built Through Action, Not Readiness**

One of the most powerful truths of Supported Employment is the belief that people don’t become “ready” in isolation.

The Connect to Work guidance itself acknowledges this foundational concept through the Supported Employment model’s emphasis on place, train, maintain — placing people in real jobs quickly, then building support around them. It explicitly states that the model is effective because it helps individuals enter work that matches their needs and sustain it through ongoing learning and support.

connect-to-work-guidance-for-england.pdf

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This is not a preparatory model.It’s an experiential one.

And honestly — I relate. Throughout my own life and career, there have been countless times I had to “fake it until I made it.” Confidence, capability, and professional identity did not arrive before the opportunity; they arrived because of it.

People with disability deserve the same opportunity to grow through action.

Where Connect to Work Helps — and Where It Strains Personalisation

Connect to Work introduces many strengths:

✔ National consistency

Participants across England theoretically receive the same high-fidelity model, delivered through IPS and SEQF frameworks.

✔ Fidelity assurance

A formal assessment system ensures providers uphold the five-stage Supported Employment model, protect caseload sizes (average maximum 25), and ensure quality support connect-to-work-guidance-for-en….

✔ Integration across health, skills, and employment

The guidance emphasises joint working with NHS, ICS, and local partners to reach individuals facing complex barriers.

These are important foundations.

But challenges appear when we look at how the model functions on the ground.

The Tension: Vocational Profiling vs. Real People, Real Lives

Connect to Work requires a structured Vocational Profiling process early in the participant journey — a detailed exploration of strengths, interests, barriers, and goals before job matching occurs. It is an essential Supported Employment activity, but it is now tightly time-bound and embedded in the eligibility/suitability checks that occur upfront.

At BASE, Laura Davis emphasized that maintaining individuality was more important than focusing on KPIs. However, through interactions with local councils on the ground, there appeared to be a stronger push to achieve the KPIs established by Connect to Work.

This creates a tension.

People who require additional time to explore:

• their sensory needs

• pacing

• tasks they have never tried

• the social environment

• their trauma histories

• their fluctuating health conditions

… may struggle within these rigid timelines.

The guidance acknowledges flexibilities, but in practice, providers report that regional delivery pressures and start-target expectations can shorten the depth or length of Vocational Profiling — even when the person needs more time.

This is where integrity can become strained.

Supported Employment was never meant to be a race through profiling.For some individuals, the discovery process is a vital part of building self-knowledge and confidence.

Connect to Work recognises this — but its funding structure and target volumes often don’t accommodate it.

Regional Delivery = Regional Barriers

Because Connect to Work is delivered through 43 Accountable Bodies, each with:

• different labour markets

• different employer ecosystems

• different disability populations

• different rural/urban pressures

• different local politics

• different staff recruitment challenges

… the model inevitably plays out differently across regions.

This is acknowledged in the guidance, which notes that each region must shape provision around local priorities and local needs, while still meeting national performance expectations.

But this flexibility creates a paradox:

The more local the adaptation → the more variability in experience.The more standardised the expectations → the harder it is to personalise deeply.

Some regions report:

• difficulty meeting fidelity caseload limits

• pressure to move participants faster than their learning pace

• insufficient time for deeper Discovery

• prioritising “quick wins” to meet reporting goals

• difficulty supporting people with the highest barriers because it affects outcomes

None of this is malicious.It is systemic.

The Biggest Question:

Has Connect to Work Reduced the Deep Personalisation of Supported Employment?**

Not intentionally — but the answer for many frontline practitioners is:

“Yes… unless we actively guard against it.”

The integrity of Supported Employment lies in:

• trust

• time

• curiosity

• flexibility

• relationship-building

• individualised pacing

• iterative learning

• employer partnership

• capacity-building over perfection

Connect to Work supports these values in theory .But high-volume targets and regional funding structures can push practice toward standardisation.

Personalisation requires breathing space.And breathing space requires funding structures that understand human development isn’t linear.

A Way Forward: Protecting the Heart of the Model

To maintain integrity while scaling nationally, we can:

1. Advocate for extended Vocational Profiling windows for those who need it

Flexibility exists — but regions need permission to use it.

2. Reinforce the dignity-of-risk philosophy

People grow through real opportunities, not prolonged preparation.

3. Protect the principle that people can become ready through work

This is not a weakness — it is the evidence base.

4. Invest in employer ecosystems regionally

So opportunities match local needs and can adapt to individuals.

5. Ensure fidelity assessments are supportive, not punitive

Quality improves through learning, not fear of failure.

6. Keep lived experience at the centre

The more people with disability lead, the more personalisation remains intact.

Conclusion:

Supported Employment Isn’t Broken — But It Needs Defending.

Connect to Work is a massive investment into disability employment.It has strong foundations, strong intentions, and the potential to transform lives at scale.

But scale always brings risk.

The risk that personalisation becomes procedure.That discovery becomes a checklist.That readiness becomes a prerequisite again.That regional pressure reshapes the model more than lived-experience insight does.

Supported Employment is most powerful when it remembers that:

People grow through doing.People learn through trying.People become ready by participating.

If Connect to Work protects this truth, the model will thrive.If it forgets it, we risk losing the very thing that made Supported Employment world-leading.