What is Supported Employment?
With the right support, people with learning disabilities and autism can be happy and valued employees in any industry.
Supported Employment is the process of helping someone find work, learn the job to a high standard and ensuring their continued success in that role.
The Supported Employment model has been successfully used for decades, creating a partnership between businesses and the supported employees with long term benefits for both parties.
How does it benefit employers?
Employing someone who is supported by Little Gate can bring enormous advantages. Your new employee will be specifically trained to do the job in question and we will provide all the support they need.
As a result, you’ll have a new recruit who’s reliable and enthusiastic.
Research by Mencap shows that employing someone with learning disabilities or autism can have far reaching benefits, improving morale and empathy throughout your staff.
Find out more about employing one of our trainees.
How does it benefit our candidates?
Paid employment can bring life-changing benefits for people with learning disabilities and autism. Aside from the financial advantages, the improvement to their self-esteem and confidence can be astounding.
Many of our jobseekers feel that ‘day care’ is not appropriate for them. They want to work, and they want to achieve everything they are capable of. And we want to help them do this.
Only 6% of adults with learning disabilities are in paid employment* (compared to 74% of the general population), so there’s a lot of work for us to do.
We understand that the support our candidates receive is critical to improving the situation. This is how we help:
- Finding the right job for the right person
- Work experience opportunities
- Job Coaching before and during employment
- Additional support such as travel to work and benefits advice
What Comes Next?
After trainees graduate from the farm or their apprenticeship, they have the opportunity to join The Jobs Forum & The Bridge, which are two courses designed to continue support after securing a paid role, so that we never leave anyone behind!
* Source: HSCIC 2015: 6% of adults with a learning disability known to their local authority in England are in paid work
# Source: ONS 2016b
Ways you can support
