A Visit to Pure Coffee, Manchester: What Local Practice Reveals About Supported Employment

Our visit to Pure Coffee with Neryssa Charman and Daniella Sidderley offered far more than a café stop — it became a window into how Supported Employment is lived, adapted, and shaped by local realities in Manchester.

Pure Coffee itself is staffed by people who have completed Supported Employment pathways, creating a warm and bustling environment where community meets inclusion. The 50/50 mix of disabled and non-disabled staff was visible not because it was highlighted, but because it felt completely natural — a sign of a community that embraces participation rather than tokenism.

Seeing Connect to Work in Action

Coming straight from Preston and arriving in Manchester felt well-timed. We had already begun noticing that while the Supported Employment model maintains high fidelity standards, the implementation can look different in each region.

The Connect to Work rollout reinforces the five-stage model and fidelity expectations, but as we spoke with practitioners and community members, it became clear that:

Fidelity is the foundation —but local adaptation is where the real work happens.

No two communities are the same, and neither are the challenges they face.

Neryssa Charman: What Devolution Really Means

Neryssa, Manchester’s Devolution Lead, explained a concept I had only recently come to understand:

Devolution = Customising Supported Employment to Local Conditions

Manchester’s labour market challenges are significant — not just in relation to disability, but also mental health, unemployment trends, and “return to work” barriers. Devolution allows the region to shape Supported Employment around these realities rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

It became clear that the success of Supported Employment in Manchester relies heavily on:

• understanding the community

• recognising long-term structural disadvantage

• adapting delivery to real challenges, not theoretical ones

This mirrors many of the pressures we see in Australia.

Daniella Sidderley: Why Pre-Employment Social Enterprises Matter

Daniella plays a key role in developing social services that transition into Supported Employment, offering real work environments across:

• cafés

• bakeries

• social enterprises

• training venues

These aren’t “day programs” in the traditional sense.They’re capacity-building workplaces — particularly valuable for people who have moved beyond Supported Internships or need a gentler on-ramp into paid work.

This model ensures people aren’t simply “kept busy,” but instead build genuine skills, confidence, and routine.

Systemic Challenges: Echoes Between the UK and Australia

What struck me throughout our conversations was the similarity between the UK’s challenges and our own.

Funding & Provider Integrity

Historically, some employment services in the UK were delivered by for-profit organisations without a strong values base, which Neryssa and Daniella acknowledged had compromised quality. Connect to Work seeks to correct this — but transition takes time.

Employer Engagement

Both in Manchester and Australia:

Employer engagement works best when employers have lived experience —a family member, a friend, or a colleague.

Building trust with employers is labour-intensive, relational, and grounded in mutual respect. It cannot be rushed. It cannot be automated. It requires a human presence on the ground, not just targets.

Government Consistency

Connect to Work is a new five-year initiative — a step forward from the fragmented Education and Health Care funds of the past. Australian providers know this well: without long-term government commitment, it’s difficult to build sustainable models.

Pure Coffee: A Living Example of Community Inclusion

Pure Coffee wasn’t just a café.It was a symbol of what meaningful community integration can look like:

• people with disabilities in valued roles

• high expectations paired with real support

• a thriving customer base

• a workplace that feels equal, not segregated

You can feel the culture when you walk in — not because someone explains it, but because everyone is simply “part of the team.”

It’s Supported Employment in its most natural form:ordinary, dignified, and quietly transformative.

Final Reflection

Manchester showed us that Supported Employment remains strong — but its strength lies in how each community adapts the model to their own people, their own labour market, and their own challenges.

Fidelity gives structure.Devolution gives relevance.Community gives meaning.

And places like Pure Coffee show what is possible when all three come together.

https://www.pureinnovations.co.uk/supported-internships/