24 in PartnershipThe Prospects Group Magazine | www.prospects.co.uk
To visit the Prospects website
A radical approach
to reduced budgets
Patrick Burns on meeting
budgetary challenges
In this issue
The journey to work
Prospects develops innovative
holistic care for customers with
mental health problems
Why is everyone
talking about Individual
Placement and Support?
Jan Hutchinson from the Centre for
Mental Health on the difference IPS
is making to jobseekers
Issue
The health and work Edition

16 National Careers Service
helps local people get jobs
at Grand Central
17 So you want to work for....
18 Digital Innovation
19 Bristol rocks!
4 – 8
We are Leaders in Diversity
Prospects wins Youth
Entrepreneurship contract in Wales
The National Citizen Service expands
All young people deserve the best:
Calderdale Leaving Care Service
EO Day
Young people in Harrow get help
from new careers support
Prospects Quality Award
Award-winning
campaign brings home the message
about domestic abuse
Prospects awarded contract to
support pre-schools and childminders
in Southampton
Features
7 – 9 The journey to work
10 –11 A radical approach to
reduced budgets
12 –13 Why is everyone talking
about Individual Placement
and Support?
14 –15 Smoothing transitions
for employment support
Allowance Customers
Also inside News in brief
2 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership
03:00

Welcome to
Prospects
in Partnership
There has been a
lot of good news
around lately
showing record
highs of people in
work, a dramatic
fall in workless
households and
that the Work Programme has helped
more than half a million jobseekers to
find long term work. This is a major
achievement and one that Prospects
is proud to have contributed to as a
prime provider in the South West and
a subcontractor in Bristol and London.
We have decided to focus this issue
of Prospects in Partnership on our
work to help people into employment.
You can read about evaluation
which Prospects commissioned the
University of Warwick’s Institute for
Employment Research to undertake
to consider what colleagues
working with customers receiving
Employment Support Allowance are
doing well and what improvements
could be made for the future.
At Prospects we’re always looking for
ways to innovate and provide support
to customers which is most convenient
for them, helping them move on and
develop their potential. You can read
about some of our innovative work
with young people who self-harm,
jobseekers with sleep deprivation and
how we help those with mental and
physical health problems return to work.
We also have an opinion piece from
Mind on the relationship between
work and mental health, which
illustrates the importance of finding
suitable work and how employers
can make their workplaces healthy.
In the digital times in which we live
it is important that we are helping our
customers to be literate and develop
the range of skills they need. Digital
forms of communication also present an
opportunity for us to communicate with
our customers in immediate, relevant
ways. You can read more about that
in the article ‘Digital Innovation’.
Of course, there’s plenty more to
read about in this issue, including our
news from around the country and our
various services. There’s a particularly
interesting article from Patrick Burns,
our Director of Mutual Development, on
a radical approach to reduced budgets.
I do hope you will find this issue of
Prospects in Partnership interesting
and that you enjoy reading it.
Nick Bell
Chief Executive
About Prospects
The Prospects Group provides tailored
education, employment, training and care
products and services for people at all stages
of life. Each year Prospects inspires more than
500,000 people to develop their potential
and transform their lives. More than 1,400
professional and skilled colleagues provide
practical support to the local communities they
are based in across the UK and internationally.
Prospects is one of the largest employee owned
companies in the UK. It is also a Leader in
Diversity and ranked in the top 100 index by the
National Centre for Diversity.
The Prospects Group includes Gabbitas,
independent education consultancy and
CfAppointments, specialist recruitment services.
Prospects is also the partner in 3BM, an
employee-owned mutual providing support
services to the education sector.
For more information please visit:
www.prospects.co.uk
Prospects welcomes comments or suggestions
on any stories covered, or ideas for future
content. Please contact:
jayne.runacres@prospects.co.uk
Prospects in Partnership is an independent
publication, bringing together news, opinion
and information. The views expressed in articles
are those of the authors or organisations and
copyright in articles remains solely with them.
Prospects in Partnership is available free
of charge to partners of Prospects. Annual
subscription to non-partners is £10 (single issue
£3.50).
Prospects in Partnership is printed by SPM Print,
a clean, green printing company that is ISO 14001
accredited. Every aspect of its printing and finishing
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involved. All paper is sourced from EMAS registered
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also achieved FSC accreditation for chain of custody.
Printed June 2016
Issue 24 3Prospects in Partnership

In January 2016 Prospects
achieved Leaders in Diversity (LiD),
the highest level of accreditation
by the National Centre of
Diversity. The first company in our
marketplace to achieve this award,
it demonstrates our commitment to
excellence in Equalities, Diversity
and Inclusion (EDI) throughout the
organisation, our processes and
supply chain.
Prospects’ commitment to EDI is
embedded across all of the work
we do. It is actively supported
in our internal policies and
underscores our relationships
with customers, those that we
support on the frontline and our
stakeholders.
Nick Bell, Prospects Chief
Executive, commented: “We are a
diverse company both in terms of
our workforce and the people that
we provide services to, and one of
our core values is understanding
and celebrating that diversity to
Prospects wins £20m worth of contracts
Prospects wins Youth
Entrepreneurship contract in Wales
Prospects recently won £20 million worth of contracts across the UK,
ranging from Wales to Northamptonshire and Harrow to Coventry and
Warwickshire.
Nick Bell, Chief Executive of the Prospects Group, said:
“I am delighted to have secured these contracts in Coventry and
Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Harrow and Wales which will see us
increasing the number of people we work with every year to improve
their life chances and quality of life. We already help more than 500,000
people each year and we are determined to continue to provide quality,
innovative and value for money services that will see us helping even
more people in the future.”
Prospects has been awarded the Youth
Entrepreneurship Service (YES) contract. The five
year contract is part of the Welsh Government’s
flagship Business Wales service, which will create
10,000 businesses, 28,300 jobs and help to
inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The service is for people aged five to 25 and will
be delivered from January 2016 by Prospects
Cymru in partnership with Cazbah, Mark-it,
Business in Focus and Antur Teifi. More than
200,000 young people will benefit from the
service, and be encouraged to start their own
businesses.
The Youth Entrepreneurship Service is highly
regarded in Wales and Prospects has delivered
Big Ideas Wales, the entrepreneurship contract
in primary and secondary schools, since 2013.
The expanded contract will support young
people in schools, colleges and further and
higher education institutions across Wales and
complements our other major contact with the
Welsh Government, creating and delivering the
prestigious SkillsCymru events in Cardiff and
Llandudno.
News in Brief
We are Leaders in Diversity
4 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership
enable us to continue to provide
tailored services to our wide
customer base, as well as being
a company with a strong, diverse
and vibrant workforce. We are
thrilled our commitment has been
recognised because the aims and
ethos of the National Centre for
Diversity resonate well with our
own values and ethos. We are
keen to share our experiences with
others and encourage a similar
positive approach to diversity
across different organisations in
the UK.”
Prospects delivers more than 50
contracts including the National
Careers Service and the Work
Programme. Prospects manages
and supports a diverse supply
chain and subcontractor network,
in the assessment it was noted
Prospects achieves high standards
with subcontractors, and has an
excellent reputation with partner
organisations.

Young people in Harrow get help
from new careers support
All young people deserve the best
Calderdale Leaving Care Service
Harrow Council has appointed Prospects to
deliver careers services until 2019, building on
Harrow’s current strengths in this area to make
sure young people most in need of specialist help
can access the guidance and support needed to
move into education, employment and training.
Cllr Simon Brown, portfolio holder for children and
young people, said: “Harrow’s ambitious plans
for regeneration will bring millions of pounds of
investment into the area. This careers support will
ensure our young people are prepared to make
the most of all the opportunities this regeneration
will bring for employment, Apprenticeships and
training.”
In Calderdale more than 150 young people are looked after when they
leave care in a partnership between Calderdale Council and Prospects.
Young people leaving care are one of the most vulnerable groups in
society. Fewer than 1% of all children in England are in care, yet looked
after children make up 33% of boys and 61% of girls in custody and care
leavers are five times less likely to achieve five good GCSEs.
In Calderdale care leavers are supported on a range of issues including
accommodation, financial support, entry into employment or training,
offending and emotional wellbeing. To help the young people leaving
care, after having been looked after by the Council, a Care Leavers
Pledge is in place guaranteeing all adults that work with care leavers will
take responsibility to make sure they are safe, healthy and achieving their
goals.
For Jack* the Pledge ensured after he gained a first in mathematics at
university he was able to gain work experience in different departments
of the Council. This enabled Jack to further his career.
The partnership helps Calderdale achieve some of the best, Not in
Education, Employment or Training (NEET) rates in the country for Looked
After Children. Of the current caseload only 18.6% are NEET against a
national average of 37%.
*not real name
News in Brief
EO day
Prospects is the 13th largest employee-owned
company in the country, all Prospects employees,
apprentices, executives and managers have a
stake in how the company is run and directly
benefit from its success. Research has
shown that employee-owned (EO) businesses
outperform their non-EO counterparts in terms
of productivity and profitability, through their high
levels of engagement across the workforce.
To celebrate EO Day, the Employee Ownership
Association, Fieldfisher and the Chartered Institute
of Public Finance and Accountancy teamed
up with Prospects to author a new guide on
employee ownership, designed specifically for
public sector organisations. More than £1.5 billion
of contract value is currently delivered by public
service mutuals.
In addition, across Prospects’ network of offices
colleagues came together to start the day with
a celebration breakfast. Colleagues based in
Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brent,
Bromley, Poole, Taunton and Weymouth, and
those providing Early Years support in Kent and
Nottingham, and the Work Programme in London.
5Issue 24
The National Citizen Service Expands
National Citizen Service is a short
programme involving young people
in their communities. Participants
spend time away from home at
an outdoor centre, developing
new skills and spend 60 hours
designing and delivering a social
project.
In 2015 more than 200 young
people joined the programme
raising more than £7,000 for
their local areas. Coming from
very different backgrounds they
worked hard together to make a
mark on their communities, made
new friends along the way and
developed their leadership skills,
team-working, community spirit,
and improved their confidence and
determination.
The pilot ran so successfully that
Prospects has been awarded
the National Citizen Service for
South Gloucestershire, Stroud and
Salisbury, supporting more than
600 young people in 2016 through
the programme from our South
Cerney Outdoor centre based in
the Cotswold Water Park.
To support the national advertising
campaign, the team will be
visiting local schools, youth and
community groups to encourage
young people to get involved.

Prospects awarded contract
to support pre-schools and
childminders in Southampton
6 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership
Prospects is now providing quality support
services to pre-schools and childminders in
Southampton, ensuring early years settings,
given a less than ‘Good’ grade at their last Ofsted
inspection, improve the quality of their offer to
parents and young children. The contract was
awarded after a competitive tender process.
Prospects previously delivered support services
to pre-schools in the city, the inclusion of
childminders will give parents peace of mind in
whatever setting they choose.
John Theedom, Director of Prospects Early
Years, said: “Prospects has worked closely with
the council to make a difference to the lives of
some of the city’s youngest children and we are
delighted Southampton City Council has chosen
us to deliver this new expanded contract. In
the two years we have worked with pre-school
settings in the city we have developed trusting
relationships and made a positive impact. We are
now looking forward to helping improve education
and care for young children attending early years
settings. Prospects has a wealth of experience
and expertise in assisting pre-school and child-
minding settings. We work alongside providers to
ensure every child is given the best possible start
in life through their early years’ experiences, with
safeguarding at the heart of everything we do.”
Anne Downie, Early Years and Childcare Manager
with Southampton City Council, said: “We look
forward to continuing to work with Prospects in
supporting early years providers in Southampton.
We know that attending high quality early years
provision has a lasting positive effect on children’s
lives.”
News in Brief
Award-winning
campaign brings home
the message about
domestic abuse
Young women who attended a 12
week course in Cheltenham by
the Gloucestershire Youth Support
Team, provided by Prospects on
behalf of Gloucestershire County
Council, have won the Community
Award at the Cheltenham Borough
Homes Community Heroes
Awards by creating an advertising
campaign to tackle attitudes to
domestic abuse.
A local police sergeant, who
previously worked as a make-up
artist on Casualty, applied special
effects make-up to each young
woman whilst explaining how the
victim would have received each
injury. This powerful narrative
brought the reality of domestic
abuse home for the young women.
The group was photographed,
before and after, then worked
with a graphic designer to create
posters.
Cllr Paul McLain, cabinet member
for children and young people,
said: “Protecting victims of
domestic abuse is an absolute
priority for us. The campaign
images that these young women
produced are striking and help to
drive the message home. What’s
terrifying is that the injuries they
portray are real and occurring in
our country daily. It takes a lot
of courage to confront domestic
abusers, and the innovative work
of our young people will send a
loud, clear message that domestic
abuse must not and will not be
tolerated in our communities.”
Four education institutions are
celebrating accreditation of their
high quality careers provision.
The three schools and one
college have all been awarded
the Prospects Quality Award for
Careers Education, Information
Advice and Guidance (CEIAG).
Ormiston Sandwell Community
Academy and Pool Hayes Arts
and Community School (Walsall)
have been reaccredited. They are
joined by two new members of the
exclusive Gold standard: Joseph
Chamberlain Sixth Form College
(Birmingham) and Outwood
Academy Portland (Worksop).
The Government recommends that
all schools should work towards a
quality award for CEIAG that meets
the requirements of the national
Quality in Careers Standard
(QiCS). Ofsted inspections also
include a clear focus on examining
the impact that high quality
CEIAG provision has on students’
preparedness for the next stage
of their learning and work journey.
Almost 120 institutions across the
country are working in partnership
with the Prospects award, allowing
them to show evidence of meeting
the requirements. Nationally,
the QiCS Consortium estimates
that more than one quarter of all
schools either hold, or are working
towards, a nationally accredited
award and have indicated that the
proportion is increasing.
www.prospectseducation.co.uk
More education
institutions receive
Prospects Quality Award

03:00
Issue 24 7
The journey
to work
T
he Building Emotional
Resilience (BERs) pilot helps
young people admitted to
Accident and Emergency (A&E)
because they self-harmed, but who
do not need formal mental health
support. The early intervention
approach is led by Gloucestershire
Youth Support Team, which
Prospects runs on behalf of the
county council, in partnership with
2gether NHS Foundation Trust
(Children and Adolescence Mental
Health Services).
Feature
Mental health issues can
begin at a young age and
if left unchecked can lead
to lifelong problems.

Stacy Lewis, part of the pilot team, explains how
the service works: “When a young person is in
A&E a Mental Health Assessment is completed
by a nurse, who offers a home appointment with
a Gloucestershire Youth Support Team worker to
see if there is any support that can be offered.
If the young person declines the support it is
offered again at different points in their follow
up and treatment. For those young people
who accept the support, we initially triage to
ascertain any unmet needs such as being Not in
Education, Employment or Training (NEET). We
also offer the Impact – Self Harm Programme.”
The Impact Programme was written in conjunction
with mental health services and pulls together
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness
alongside the ‘cycle of change’. It is delivered
through six sessions on either a one-to-one
basis or with family members, and covers topics
including finding out the facts about self-harm, the
young person’s experiences, learning how to use
alternatives, what are the ‘best fit’ alternatives for
that young person and problem solving skills to
reduce the need to self-harm as a coping strategy.
Stacy said: “We have recently completed a young
person’s review of the programme and one of the
main points of feedback was that the young people
felt good about being able to talk to a worker who
wasn’t going to be scared about self-harm. The
pilot has been expanded to include selected GP
surgeries and schools currently in a Mental Health
and Schools pilot area to extend support to young
people before they become a crisis A&E visitor.”
Mental health problems in adulthood can lead to
difficulties in many areas of life including relationships,
work, eating and sleeping. A lack of sleep can be
incredibly debilitating and prevent the ability to perform
day-to-day tasks. To help customers overcome this
issue a sleep clinic was set up as part of Prospects’
delivery of the Work Programme. “We identified
customers who were finding it difficult to function
and couldn’t see a future where they would be able
to work due to being unable to get a reasonable
night’s sleep” says Samantha Stevens, performance
manager on the Work Programme in the South West.
“The initial goal of the clinic was to give customers
the tools and information they need to create
conditions which promote sleep, enabling them to
wake up feeling refreshed and maintain their lives.”
The sleep clinic covered factors that can influence
sleep quality including sleep hygiene, diet and
nutrition, pain management and the effects of
technology. Customers were invited to attend
sessions which began with a short mindfulness
session to relax the group, helping them put to
one side things they were anxious about and
concentrate on the intervention, taking away
actions to put into practice to help them sleep.
Sam continues: “Customers were asked to keep
sleep diaries to monitor their activities. At the group
sessions, everyone shared how their sleep had
been since the previous session. The group shared
actions they had completed since the last sessions,
for example if a customer woke at 2am instead of
getting up, making a cup of tea and putting the TV
on, they stayed in bed, laying quietly, until they went
back to sleep. Customers discussed how their sleep
had improved through the actions they have taken.”
In London, where Prospects provides the National
Careers Service, colleagues have been working
with organisations to support people with mental
health problems who are receiving Employment
Support Allowance (ESA) to grow their skills,
engage in learning, gain qualifications and ultimately
find and sustain appropriate employment.
Tracey Alexander, Prospects National Careers
Service Adviser, outlines how she works with the
charity Imagine and Uplift, an organisation which
8 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership

works closely with the St George’s NHS mental
health trust: “The support I provide complements
the NHS work. I often work with customers who
are able to manage their condition on a day to-day
basis. I equip customers through holistic help to
improve their CV, find volunteering roles and increase
their confidence, enabling them to move forward
with the eventual aim of finding sustainable work.”
Karen Mitchell, Regional Manager for the Work
Programme in the South West, said: “We are
constantly looking for new ways we can work with
other agencies to provide practical support and
help customers with mental health problems learn
coping mechanisms, which will enable them to move
on and lead a fulfilling life. All the interventions we
provide are designed to benefit specific areas of
our customers’ lives. Our interventions are selected
in a bespoke way to help each customer as they
progress on their journey to sustainable employment.”
Some of the interventions Prospects offers, which
focus on health and wellbeing, include working
on creating a peace garden, beach cleans and
Individual Placement Support which is designed to
help customers with mental health problems, alcohol
and drug issues take part in work experience where
the employer is also supported to ensure work is
suitable. Walk On The Wildside is for customers who
are reluctant to come into centres, providing them
with an opportunity to start engaging with the Work
Programme through walks in the countryside led by
other customers as well as Prospects advisers.
Prospects recently worked with Pentreath and
Re:Source to pilot an intensive employability
course focussed on customers with mental health
issues. Healthy Steps to Work helped people
tackle mental health issues through practical work
experience and assistance back into employment.
The targeted employment course supported
seven customers during the pilot with work
placement and mental health support over a 10
week period. All the customers selected to take
part in the pilot received ESA and had been away
from the job market for more than 12 months.
100% of participants reported an increase in self
value, 83% reported an increase in confidence,
readiness to work, awareness of opportunities
and felt better about managing their mental
health conditions. One participant found a job
after taking part in the pilot, another took part in
a work trial and others achieved qualifications.
To find out more about how Prospects works
with customers facing challenges please email
jayne.runacres@prospects.co.uk
All the interventions we
provide are designed
to benefit specific areas
of our customers’ lives.
Feature
9Issue 24

Patrick Burns offers his opinion
on the current approach to public
sector mutuals and the budgetary
challenges they face.
With councils and other public sector
employers facing unprecedented
spending pressures, the Government’s
new reticence on the mutual spin
out model is mystifying according
to Prospects’ Director of Mutuals
Development, Patrick Burns. Under the
Coalition Government local and health
authorities, and Whitehall departments,
were urged by Cabinet Office to
consider spinning out services as an
innovative way to bring down costs
and improve standards.
Yet, despite the incoming Government’s
pledge to introduce a ‘right to mutualise’
in the public sector, Ministers are
missing the opportunity to promote
an alternative delivery approach that
appears to have been a lifeline for some
cash-strapped authorities.
“Evidence is showing that employee
owned spin-outs are remarkably good
at delivering more for less,” claims
Patrick. His recent research for a
large county council shows health
and social care spin-outs averaging
savings to the parent authority of
20-25%, with cost cutting measures
including better procurement, fewer
management levels, rapid innovation by
more engaged staff and employment
packages that are more competitive
with the private sector. Far from
savaging these services for vulnerable
users to save money, spinning out
appears to have made them better.
According to Patrick they inspire
creativity and innovation among staff
who now co-own the business,
spin-outs prove adept at generating
new demand and designing new
services. The result is growing revenue
that helps offset the impact of cost
savings and frees funds for investment.
Former Chief Executive of Sunderland
City Council, Dave Smith, is now
working with Prospects on a radical
new approach to how councils can
respond strategically to the spending
squeeze. He points to the dilemma
this squeeze is forcing on the majority
of local authorities: “The scale of the
challenge is growing while the scale of
resources to tackle it is shrinking. The
more difficult and controversial the cuts
become, the more councils sacrifice
their capacity to deliver sustainable
change.”
Dave also points to an emerging gap
between the political and managerial
leadership of councils, under the
pressure to meet increasingly
testing spending limits. He says:
“The management will tend to focus
A radical
approach
to reduced
budgets
Patrick Burns
Director of Mutuals
Development
Prospects
10 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership

on organisational needs, narrower
delivery and top/down controls. The
political leadership will focus more on
community needs and aspirations
and the council’s ability to meet those
needs. The result is a locked-in ‘more
resource’ or ‘less demand’ debate
rather than a ‘doing it differently’
discussion.”
Later this year Prospects will be
publishing its thinking on new ways for
councils to tackle the public service
delivery challenge. Having
advised a range of public
sector employers on alternative
delivery approaches, Patrick
is convinced that part of the
answer is under the noses of
pressured decision makers:
“What continually astonishes
authorities is that the very same
people delivering a service that
wouldn’t or couldn’t change
enough to be affordable then
transform it rapidly once they have
the independence to run the service
themselves.”
“The spin-out experience is showing
again and again that operational
managers and service staff already
tend to know how to do things
better. They know how to buy more
economically, how to organise work
more sensibly, how to take decisions
faster. They know the services their
users want but can’t get. The problem
is that in most councils, in fact in most
public sector organisations, staff simply
aren’t trusted to be that independent or
decisive. The constant tendency
to refer decisions upwards actively
deters innovation, creativity and speed.”
Dave believes that the sheer scale
of spending cuts is – paradoxically
– shrinking councils’ ability to think
strategically about how services
should be delivered. With a quarter
of the resources councils were using
to deliver services in 2010, medium
term financial strategies, he claims,
mostly limit themselves to identifying
projected savings alongside proposals
to meet those targets. The result is
an understandable but narrow focus
on short term savings targets, which
masks equally important questions
about councils’ purpose, their capacity
to manage the change involved, and
the best – as opposed to cheapest –
way to deliver services to people who
need them.
To find out more about how Prospects
can help you deliver services in a new
way contact Patrick Burns at
patrick.burns@prospects.co.uk
“
The scale of
the challenge
is growing
while the scale of
resources to tackle
it is shrinking.
11Issue 24
Feature

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an approach
to supported employment which was developed and
trialled in the USA in the early 1990s when mental
health professionals doubted the likelihood of most
of their patients ever being able to return to ordinary
employment. The same is probably true of many of
our UK clinicians at the time.
IPS was offered as an alternative to sheltered
employment and through a series of randomised
controlled trials the essential elements of IPS were
distilled. It was established that IPS is twice as
effective as a stepped model of gradual exposure to
the perceived pressures and demands of real work,
when the service a) took the employment ambitions
of mental health patients at face value, b) supported
people into a job quickly, and c) helped them, through
regular contact, to retain that job.
In the UK we have seen a gradual increase in the
availability of IPS services. Centre for Mental Health,
a national charity whose aim is to improve the lives of
people affected by mental health problems, has been
the catalyst of much of the implementation, particularly
where NHS Mental Health Trusts in England have
closely adhered to the US model.
In 2009 the network of IPS ‘Centres of Excellence
was created as a result of a call to IPS services able
to demonstrate high fidelity to the US model. The
Centre has brought together services in a network
of peers, to share learning and experience, to
develop and share resources and, most importantly,
to demonstrate what good IPS looks like, in practice,
in the UK for the benefit of newer and emerging
services.
In the last seven years the Centres of Excellence
have demonstrated that IPS in the UK achieves a job
outcome for 40%-60% of service users and that 70%
of those jobs are sustained for six months or more. In
the last year Centre for Mental Health has established
six new IPS services in secondary mental health care,
with support from the Department of Health Innovation
Fund. These services will make IPS available to
around 1,000 more jobseekers with severe mental
health conditions.
12 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership
IPS in the UK achieves
a job outcome for
40%-60% of service users
and that 70% of those
jobs are sustained for six
months or more.
Why is everyone
talking about
Individual
Placement
and Support?
Jan Hutchinson
Director of Programmes
at the Centre for Mental Health

quantities, or the bake will fail. IPS is fundamentally
both the employment support and the clinical mental
health support, and trying to achieve the same
results from the employability input alone, without the
mental health support, is almost certain to produce
disappointing results.
We are likely to see a continuing increase in
opportunities for the development of new models of
supported employment, and there is an excitement
about the possibilities that IPS offers. My advice to
providers is:
1. Gain a full understanding of IPS – read the
fidelity scale and visit a Centre of Excellence
2. Bear in mind that IPS has been trialled with
volunteers who are motivated to work,
regardless of their symptoms (which nonetheless
are significant). IPS is much less likely to be
effective for people who don’t feel able to work
at the present time
3. Facilitating parallel access to mental health
support is essential if the service is going to
help people overcome their various and
complex barriers to work
4. A key to successful IPS is the small caseloads
held by each Employment Specialist. Increasing
the size of caseloads is likely to have a
disproportionately negative affect on job
outcomes
5. IPS services must be personalised. You should
aim to provide individualised mental health
support alongside employment support, and to
facilitate personal contact between the client
and employer.
For more information email
jan.hutchinson@centreformentalhealth.org.uk
13Issue 24
These successes have been noted by policy
makers, parliamentarians, health and social care
commissioners, local JobCentres and Work
Programme providers. The mental health task force
identified IPS as one of the most important areas for
development in mental health policy and provision for
the next five years. Not only is IPS effective, it is also
very cost effective, with services being able to pay for
themselves within a year. It is therefore not surprising
that a number of recent employability contracts
have called for providers to offer IPS or ‘an IPS-style
service’ in their delivery of welfare to work provision.
So is it that simple? Is it possible to take most of the
IPS features demonstrated in secondary mental health
care and simply transfer them to another setting, such
as mandatory DWP programmes?
I do not believe it is. Because IPS is not simply a set
of employability processes and skills: it is like a recipe
in which all ingredients must be present in the right
Centre for Mental Health is
working to make high quality
IPS available for everyone who
needs it and to improve the lives
of those affected by mental
health problems. Prospects
colleagues in the South West
have undertaken IPS training
through the Centre for Mental
Health and are embedding the
principles of it. Prospects has
started a pilot in Dorset.
Feature

I
n March 2016 Stephen Crabb, the
newly appointed Secretary of State
for Work and Pensions, set out his
agenda for a compassionate welfare
system that “should not just be about
numbers,” saying that, “Behind every
statistic there is a human being.”
Prospects is one of 18 Prime providers
selected by the Department for Work
and Pensions (DWP) to deliver a Work
Programme contract in Great Britain.
Its work with a wide range of partners
covers Cornwall, Devon, Dorset
and Somerset. In November 2015,
Prospects commissioned the University
of Warwick Institute for Employment
Research (IER) to undertake an
independent review of the Work
Programme for customers receiving
Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
The study focused on what lessons
can be learned in the region from
Prospects’ ‘black box’ approach – this
is defined by DWP as ‘a term for
minimum service prescription, which
allows providers to decide which
interventions to offer to programme
participants’ to ESA customers who
have a prognosis of being able to return
to work no later than 12 months
from referral.
14 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership
The research specifically examined
799 customer journeys of those who
had started the Work Programme
between April – September 2013
and left between April – September
2015, or earlier, including most recent
completers. Customers were broken
down again in to two groups: those
who receive ESA with a prognosis of
being able to return to work within 3-6
months and those with a prognosis of
returning to work within 6-12 months
from date of referral.
The study also involved a wide range of
interviews from public, private and third
sector organisations and an evidence-
based literature review. The full report
also sets out an economic summary of
the region Prospects delivers the Work
Programme in and detailed responses
to the following research questions:
1. Are certain types of interventions
more likely to produce positive
outcomes for ESA customers?
If so, what is the evidence-base?
2. What are the enablers that
produce positive outcomes for
Work Programme ESA customers?
3. How can Prospects with its
partners achieve better outcomes
for Work Programme ESA
customers?
4. What key lessons have been
learned from the Work
Programme in the South West
region over the last two years?
From this, a rich tapestry of findings
emerged which is likely to be of
interest to Ministers, policymakers,
local authorities and Local Entreprise
Partnerships (LEPs) among others.
Firstly, there is a need to educate others
to fully understand that working with
ESA customers is not a quick fix – it
takes time to build trust, confidence,
self-esteem and a commitment to
action(s).
One customer said: “When I joined
the Work Programme…I came here to
rediscover myself and gain practical
advice, coaching and support to help
me get job ready. I had to focus on
resilience and learn how to better cope
with setbacks in life…My confidence
was low and I benefited from speaking
in front of groups, but it was very
difficult at first. I’ve also had one-to-one
support which has been incredibly
Smoothing
Transitions for
Employment Support
Allowance Customers

useful – this has helped me immensely.
I’ve learned more about the difference
in being assertive rather than sounding
aggressive. The interview practice is
great, particularly the mock interviews.
Though, I’d really like employers to
come and talk to the group so that we
know they haven’t given up on us...”
Secondly, the ‘payment by results’
approach is now widely understood but
the majority of Prosepcts supply chain
reported there is an urgent necessity
to move towards a ‘needs-based
categorisation’ that acknowledges
gradual positive steps taken by ESA
customers and to build in some form
of incentives for the customer and
the provider.
Thirdly, there is a need to focus more
on job and labour market opportunities
e.g. finding sensitive employers who
understand and help overcome barriers
to work faced by ESA customers.
Finally, local approaches to devolution,
joint commissioning and pooling of
services are likely to have a significant
impact in the region. Information
gathered by DWP from the ESA
assessment process should be
routinely shared with Work Programme
providers to ensure the right level
of service is delivered to the right
customer at the right time.
Prospects has a tested methodology,
refined over several years, with an
experienced and dedicated group
of well qualified and highly experienced
staff. In most cases, voluntary and
community sector organisations and
councils highlighted the networking
and training provision was excellent.
If the findings of this research are
implemented it is believed that even
more success could be achieved
in future.
The full report will be available shortly.
To receive a copy please email
jayne.runacres@prospects.co.uk
For further information contact
Nicola Squibb,
South West Regional Director,
nicola.squibb@prospects.co.uk
Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE, Principal
Research Fellow at the IER,
deirdre.hughes@warwick.ac.uk
Daria
Luchinskaya
Dr Erika Kispeter
Dr Deirdre Hughes
15Issue 24
• More than 11,000 people have found work on the Work Programme with Prospects
• More than half of all customers recieving Jobseekers allowance (JSA) start work
while on the Work Programme
• Almost two thirds of 18-24 year olds start work while on the Work Programme
• More than 75% of ESA customers stay in their 1st job on the Work Programme
for more than 13 weeks.
Feature

National Careers Service
helps local people get jobs
at Grand Central
residents to secure employment.
To help employers coming to the city
recruit the best workforce from the
local community, a Jobs and Skills
Charter was developed. This set
out the commitment of John Lewis,
Network Rail and Birmingham City
Council to work together so that
Birmingham residents, particularly
the young and unemployed, have
improved access to these vacancies.
Anyone interested in working at Grand
Central was offered careers advice
and guidance, along with information
on the skills and attributes required
to succeed in these vacancies.
Candidates that lacked the skills were
signposted to appropriate training to
help make them job-ready.
Events and workshops took place
across Birmingham to promote these
employment and training opportunities
across all 14 JobCentres, community
venues, foodbanks, jobs clubs and city
centre venues.
Richard Brown, Grand Central
Development Director, said: “Grand
Central is committed to providing
local jobs for local people. We want
G
rand Central, the latest
shopping destination, has
created more than 1,000 job
opportunities for local residents.
Birmingham’s new major retail and
dining destination sits above the
transformed New Street Station and
boasts the biggest John Lewis outside
London, with more than 20 cafés and
restaurants along with prestigious
shopping outlets. The development
opened up a mix of retail, hospitality
and customer service roles in the city.
To attract employees to the new
development the National Careers
Service worked in partnership with
the Birmingham Growth Alliance
Partnership and the Department for
Work and Pensions to support local
to ensure that the opportunities
created by the new development
are accessible to all and benefit
Birmingham”.
Shilpi Akbar, Assistant Director for
Employment at Birmingham City
Council, said: “With the headline figure
of 1,000 new jobs being created and
548 unemployed people getting job
outcomes as a result of the Grand
Central Birmingham recruitment
campaign, we are very pleased with
the multi-agency co-ordinated pre-
employment training and job matching
effort. The employers have been
gushing in their praise and the National
Careers Service played a vital role
throughout to ensure people were
directed to the right pathway and
received the right support at the right
time to meet their needs. Prospects
was a real team player that certainly
contributed to the project’s overall
success.”
For more information please contact
Ranjeet SInghJandu on
ranjeet.singhjandu@prospects.
co.uk
16 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership

P
rospects provides the National Careers Service
in the South West, West Midlands and London,
as well as delivering the service in South
Yorkshire as a partner in Careers Yorkshire and
Humber. In addition to providing careers information,
advice and guidance for adults, we provide a range
of inspirational resources and activities for young
people to help them find out more about the world of
work.
Recognising that more young people are turning to
the internet for careers information and advice, the
National Careers Service team in the South West
commissioned 13 Talking Heads films. The films
feature inspiring South West employers, talking about
their businesses, the wide range of job types that are
available and the skills, qualifications and qualities
they look for in young people.
Each film focuses on an industry deemed a priority
to the local economy by the three South West Local
Enterprise Partnerships (Cornwall & Isles of Scilly,
Heart of the South West and West of England).
The films cover the following topics:
• Creative and Digital
• Hospitality and Tourism
• Green, Marine and Renewable Energy
• Logistics
• Construction
• Health and Care
• Professional
• Engineering/Aerospace
• Agriculture
• IT and Big Data
• Food Manufacture
• SME/Micro Employer
• Women in Business.
Talking Heads has proved popular with the employers
too, as they provide an effective way for businesses
to promote the diverse range of career opportunities,
including Apprenticeships, to young people in the
South West.
As well as Talking Heads, the National Careers
Service South West team has produced a number
of Employer Spotlights, written interviews with
employers talking about their careers and offering first
hand advice, tips and information to young people.
The Talking Heads films and the Employer Spotlights
are also used by careers advisers and teachers in
South West schools to help young people reflect on
careers and jobs they may not even have considered
before.
The films can be viewed at https://www.youtube.
com/channel/UCKjxAfiTi8UNuPiiJwyT0HQ
and the Employer Spotlights can be found on
the National Careers Service website https://
nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/
in-your-area/south-west/Pages/Employer-
Spotlights.aspx
For further information on the films or National
Careers Service Inspiration Agenda please email:
Inspiringsouthwestncs@prospects.co.uk
So you want to work for....
17Issue 24

I
n the summer of 2015 Prospects carried
out an exercise to capture and share
examples of good digital practice across
the Group. Examples of innovative use of
digital technology were found in almost
every division. Early Years practitioners run
live webinars to childminders in the South
of England, sharing important professional
updates. Last year they also launched
a suite of digital badges to recognise
childminders’ development activity.
In many of the targeted young people’s
support services Facebook is used to
connect professional advisers directly
to customers. The Prospects social
media champions group has been
established to bring colleagues together
twice a year to learn about social
media tools and share good practice.
They also use our internal social media
network to connect and share ideas.
In West Yorkshire Prospects has gone a
step further, creating a network of ‘Digital
Job Search Gurus’ who benefit from
additional support and training on the
latest approaches for job seekers. They
are then able to share their expertise with
colleagues as well as customers. In the
first six months more than 200 customers
and colleagues have benefited from the
project. Many advisers use professional
networking tools like LinkedIn, and the job
search aggregator site Indeed.com. There is
training on how to prepare for online video
interviews, increasingly favoured by some
employers as a first stage of recruitment.
In the South West, Work Programme
customers receive a telephone based
initial assessment. The results are plotted
on Prospects’ unique Ascent tool
to identify the customer’s current skills
and development needs across a range
of important employability factors.
Prospects is the largest provider of the
National Careers Service and, although
largely delivered through face to face
sessions, the service is increasingly
offering guidance by telephone and is
developing the use of Facebook and Twitter
to reach a larger audience. Prospects
recognises the power of online video and
has commissioned several ‘infomercials’ to
promote employability campaigns through
the Prospects Group YouTube channel.
Over the last few years Prospects has
also explored the potential of mobile
app development, firstly to provide
information about courses and
apprenticeships with the ‘Ask Ella’
app in East London. More recently,
an FAQ app has been developed for
care leavers, which helps signpost
this customer group to useful
online resources and referral
agencies in their local area.
Customers often say how much they
value digital delivery so Prospects
will keep developing more digital
services and products.
18 Issue 24 Prospects in Partnership

Issue 23 | 19
B
ristol is a city known for its independent spirit
and creativity with a vibrant economy. Prospects
first worked in Bristol delivering the New Deal
contract and Programme Centre contract 10 years ago,
supporting long term unemployed jobseekers furthest
from the job market back into work. Since then Prospects
has won further contracts including Opportunity You for
the DWP JobCentre Plus (JCP) and is a subcontractor for
the Work Programme.
The Opportunity You contract is a short, intensive
programme aimed at supporting people aged 18-24,
those aged over 50, lone parents and carers. Customers
are referred through the 11 Jobcentres in the Bristol, Bath
and North East Somerset and North Somerset region
As with all welfare to work programmes run by Prospects,
the approach is customer-led. For many people
unemployment affects more than their work-status:
it impacts their well-being, confidence, relationships,
financial status and health.
The Opportunity You programme provides one-to-
one support and our individual approach means each
customer has their needs evaluated. Advisers work
closely with customers to create plans and agree the
best course of action. For some customers the barriers
are logistical, for others low self esteem and confidence is
an issue. Many customers are unfamiliar with modern job
search formats and application processes. Customers
also join group sessions that include employer visits,
motivational talks and employability skills. This intensive,
customer-centred approach ensures people rapidly
advance.
Megan, a lone parent who had not worked since October
2014, received support from Opportunity You. Keen to
get back to work, Megan struggled with flexible working
needs limited local employers and restricted travel
options.
Megan attended support sessions including lone
parent labour market information, a CV review, personal
awareness and mock interviews. The care industry
was identified as suited to Megan’s personal skills and
Prospects arranged for Megan to attend an open day in
the sector. Megan met employers face-to-face to discuss
employment options, and was shortlisted for interviews
with three companies and recruited by one.
Megan said: “I’m really pleased and can’t wait to
start work. I truly appreciate the help, support and
understanding the Prospects team has given me.
I feel I have really done well!”
Wendy Shambrook, Employer Adviser, Bristol Central
JobCentre reiterated how well the Opportunity You
programme is working: “Bristol Central Jobcentre
arranged for Prospects to host a hospitality sector
information session, as Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre
are due to open. More than 15 candidates attended
the interactive discussion session and came across as
enthusiastic and keen, many completing an application
form to give directly to the employers. Hopefully this is
only the start of us forging good partnership relations.”
To find out more about Prospects in Bristol please
contact Nicola Squibb at
nicola.squibb@prospects.co.uk.
Bristol rocks!
19Issue 24
On average, every working day of the month
an Opportunity You customer starts a new job.
One in two customers finds a new career
within 6 weeks.

Prospects Education provides high
quality school improvement services
in the UK. We work with schools and
other education providers, across all
key stages and beyond, helping them
with their curriculum development,
careers and education resources, back
office support and outdoor education.
inspiring your pupils...
Improving your school,