Understanding what helps people get into and stay in work

Assessing the impact of supported employment initiatives for people who experience complex barriers to employment
Woman standing in a field of connected cubicles

Understanding what helps people get into and stay in work

Assessing the impact of supported employment initiatives for people who experience complex barriers to employment
Title: Assessing the impact of supported employment initiatives for people who experience complex barriers to employment
Funded by: NIHR
Funding amount: £119,413
Location: United Kingdom
Dates: September 2025 – June 2026
Project partners: , ; , ; , ; , ,
°µÍø½âÃÜ staff: Dr Kathrin Paal , Dr Felix Gradinger , Gemma Doyle
 
This research project aims to better understand how to support people who experience complex barriers to employment, to get into and stay in work. It is led by researchers at the °µÍø½âÃÜ and builds on °µÍø½âÃÜ’s Changing Futures (CF) programme, which provided trauma-informed individualised supported employment opportunities for people with experience of multiple disadvantages. 
The Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) partner areas and supported employment initiatives involved in this project are focussing on different groups of people:
  • Cornwall HDRC: Youth Engagement Project for young people who are not in employment, education or training
  • Lambeth HDRC: Project Search for young people with special educational needs and disabilities
  • Medway HDRC: Forward Trust, for people in recovery from drug or alcohol misuse 
  • °µÍø½âÃÜ HDRC: Connect to Work, Individual Placement Support and other projects for people with complex needs and those experiencing multiple disadvantages. 
The research team will work together to evaluate the impact of these employment initiatives in each of these areas, to understand what works well, and why, and what the challenges are for service users. We also plan to speak to employers and other stakeholders to understand their thoughts and experiences. We will then share the learning across the different areas and more widely, for everyone’s benefit, including at local and national events and in academic publications.

Aim

To bring together people from different areas to conduct research that addresses how to support people with complex support needs, to find and maintain employment.

Objectives

  • Bring together employers, researchers and people with lived experience who have been involved in supported employment schemes
  • Bring together and analyse what is already known about different approaches to supporting people who experience complex barriers to employment
  • Study supported employment initiatives in the four HDRC areas and write case studies of each of these 
  • Bring the results together to explain how best to provide support to people facing complex barriers to employment, to help understand what works well, and why 
  • Prepare a plan for a full NIHR Work and Health research grant in 2026, to look at the issues in more detail.

Project background

3.7 million people aged 16–64 in the UK are not working because of work-limiting health conditions or disabilities. 59% of those with physical conditions that prevent them from working also have mental health conditions. Young people aged 16–24 are nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than older adults. UK Government spending on working-age health-related benefits increased from £36 billion in 2019–20 to £48 billion in 2023–24; the Government want to reduce this cost and see more people in work.
Previous return-to-work Government initiatives have had poor outcomes. Many employment initiatives give the same help to everyone, rather than providing individualised support based on personal needs and interests. This research is needed to build the evidence for a larger programme of research to assess whether and how an individualised approach can help people get into and stay in work, within supported employment initiatives such as Connect to Work.
Homeless young man in a wheelchair

Methods

We will identify existing information on this topic, highlighting key points and themes, writing a scoping review. We will examine what existing data and information tell us. In each of the partner areas, we will collect data from people engaged with supported employment initiatives, employers and other stakeholders, using a range of methods including interviews, group discussions and creative approaches. We will bring the data together to create case studies of different approaches, to understand what works well and why for different groups, and what needs to improve

Patient and public involvement and engagement

People in °µÍø½âÃÜ with lived experience of multiple disadvantages helped plan the research. People with lived experience from each of the partner areas will be involved in the project Advisory Group and as peer researchers collecting data from people engaged with supported employment initiatives, and other stakeholders. They will also be involved in analysing the data we collect and sharing the learning.
Happy young people in a work environment

Advancing person-centred care

The Community and Primary Care Research Centre (CPCRC) is intensively research-active and has a strong proven track record of health services research. 
Our research is conducted through the involvement of practitioners and the public, who are instrumental in helping to develop focused research questions and in designing projects.
We use a range of research methods (both qualitative and quantitative), to solve pressing and often complex research problems. Our research is often directed towards those individuals who are the most excluded or disempowered, have mental health problems and have difficulty accessing services.
 
Health carer holding hands of an elderly patient