What is supported employment?
Our supported
employment
Employment means having a job.
programmes help people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
and
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
to develop skills for the workplace and try to find a job.
These programmes are open to people aged 18 and over, and you do not need to have an
Education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to join them.
Limited funding means we are currently only able to deliver supported employment services in
certain
Certain means you are sure about something.
areas but we are campaigning for additional support in our employment manifesto.
There are lots of other things you get to learn at our supported employment services like how to:
- Write a
CV
A CV is also called a Curriculum Vitae. It is a document with information about: your skills, your qualifications and any jobs or volunteering you have done. You may have to send a CV when you try to get a job.
- Search for a job
- Get ready for a job
interview
An interview is a meeting where you talk to someone or a group of people about something. When you have an interview for a job, you have to answer questions and say why you would be good at the job. The person who gives the best answers is offered the job.
- Understand your pay
- Stay safe at work
- Travel to work.
Where can I find Mencap supported employment services?
At the moment there are two Mencap supported employment services in the London area and another with Amazon in Bedfordshire.
How to use this search tool:
- Click on the name of the service that you want to know about.
- Click 'back' at the bottom of each search page to go back a step.
- Click 'restart' to go back to the beginning.
Find out more about each service
Sadly, we only have funding currently to deliver our programmes in certain, specific areas.
If you do not live in any of the areas where we offer support, then we suggest you search on the local offer
website
A website is a page you can go to on the internet like Google or YouTube.
for your local authority area. Local offers are lists of local services that every council has to have. However, they only have to list support available to people aged up to 25. So it may also be a good idea to ask your local job centre about what employment-related support is available to you locally.
No.
Where we deliver these programmes, we have funding from local councils and grant givers, so you do not need to pay anything to access them.
Our programmes run all year round, with staff working Monday-Friday, 9-5, so you should be able to make contact with them during these hours.
Our programme working with Amazon involves paid
work experience
Work
experience
Experience is when you have learned or tried something before.
is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
which may mean some benefits you receive could be affected. If you are interested in this programme but are worried about this, we still reccommend that you get in touch through our sign up form, but please let us know about any concerns you may have so we can support you with this.
Taking part in our other programmes shouldn't affect your benefits. However, the purpose of these programmes is to secure paid work and if you achieve this, then this may affect your benefits depending on the number of hours that you work and how much you earn. You can find out more about the different kind of benefits and how they might be affected by what work you do on our benefits page.
We aim to respond to all enquiries within 10 working days. If you do not hear back within that time, please email our general enquiries inbox and a member of our team will work to chase up your enquiry with the relevant programme.
Our general employment enquiries email is: employment.support@mencap.org.uk