Supported Employment FAQs

Going to work creates a sense of achievement and improves wellbeing. It will allow you to be part of the community and create opportunities to meet new people, gain new skills, and earn money. 

We have found roles in a wide range of careers, from animal care to office roles, maintenance to admin. You can read more about these in our case studies.  

We work with you to explore career options and find employment which you are happy in. No one will be expected to work in a role which they do not want to. 

The jobs will be based in your local area or from home. Some travel may be required but only a distance that feels comfortable to you and has been discussed. 

This will be completely up to you, but we often find that people want to work part time. This allows you to continue to do the activities you already do in the week but fill days that you may not have anything to do.

Working may affect your benefits or trigger a change to the benefit being claimed. We can discuss benefits before you start work to ensure you are happy with how your benefits will look. 

For more information, you can contact our:

• Supported Employment coordinator at supportedemployment@solihull.gov.uk
• Community Advice Hubs

This will depend on your individual needs. We will ensure you can be as independent and safe as possible. We will talk to you to gain an understanding of how far you would like to travel, the types of transport you are happy to use and what previous experience you have with travelling. In some circumstances we can provide travel training if you would like to travel alone to the workplace, whether that’s by walking, cycling or using public transport. 

If you can or want to drive, or you have someone who drives a car on your behalf, we can support applications for Access to Work and Motability grants to cover the cost of any adaptations. 

If you need to have someone drop you off and pick you up, this is also something we can explore.  

Please contact our Supported Employment coordinator on supportedemployment@solihull.gov.uk for more information. 

With support in place, we are confident that work will be successful. If it is not for any reason, support will always be available if you want to go into paid work. We can also help to explore other options. 

For more information, please contact our Supported Employment coordinator at supportedemployment@solihull.gov.uk. 

We will always try to fit working hours around your existing activities. For example, if you attend a group on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we will look for work on Tuesday and Thursday. If this is not possible, we can also look at switching days. 

If you attend activities five days a week, some of this may be affected or we can look for weekend work. If any placement days - funded or part-funded by the adult disability team – are affected, they can be kept open for up to eight weeks while you settle into work. This means that if the work placement is not successful, you can go back into that placement with no need for a new assessment. 

If contributions are made towards the provision, these must continue for the placement to be held. If you leave work after the eight weeks, you may still return to the placement if it is still available, or a new needs assessment can be completed. 

There are many benefits to employing someone with a disability including: 

• providing motivated employees who will be committed to your company
• improving morale and team working
• enhancing your company's reputation, both internally and with customers
• potential innovation in products and services
• corporate social responsibility
• gaining an employee who is willing to learn and grow in their role
• gaining a unique perspective on ways of working or thinking  

More information can be found at The British Association of Supported Employment. 

Support is available from Access to work. They will complete an assessment to identify suitable support and equipment to help the individual access their role more effectively. Any support and/or equipment identified during the assessment will be funded by Access to Work through a grant. You can apply for an assessment within six weeks of a start date.

Information and guidance can also be provided by: 

• Ideal For All
• Age UK
• ACAS 

Our Supported Employment partners will also assist with: 

• arranging initial conversations and meetings
• visits and work trials 
• arranging volunteering to develop the skills required for the role 
• discussing how a role could be created in the future 
• ongoing support when employed including visits to discuss the individual’s progress 
• advice about potential employees to help you understand the individual, their skills and potential
• identifying potential barriers and ways to overcome these 

Any business can offer Supported Employment. 

You will need to consider:

• what support you can offer
• how much resource and time you have or are willing to commit
• how flexible you are willing to be

Some potential employees will not need a lot of support and could already be capable of doing the role. However, they may not have had the opportunity to undertake paid employment. 

Many have lots of experience from volunteering, so may just need a friendly staff member to help them break down jobs into smaller tasks.