Employment
National data from 2016/17 shows a 65% employment gap for people being supported by secondary mental health services in comparison to the general population (NHS, 2019).
Figure 84: Percentage of the population who are employed, by disability status, England, 2016 to 2017. Image source: NHS Long Term Plan
Individual placement and support (IPS) is an evidence-based model of support for job seekers with severe and enduring mental health conditions (Brinchmann et al., 2020). This was implemented as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, which also states that IPS should be embedded within integrated models of primary and community mental health services.
In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough:
- The Individual Placement and Support service is run by CPFT (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust). The size of this team has expanded over the past 3 years, including expanding to deliver IPS within primary care in 2022.
- Lifecraft also provides a Careers and Employment Service to support people recovering from mental health difficulties who are ready to enter the workplace or volunteering.
How many people access this service?
The number of referrals accessing IPS services in the month of April to August 2023 is higher than that of the previous years for the same time period, due to the expansion of the CPFT service.
Figure 85: Cumulative number of referrals accessing CPFT IPS within the financial year, April 2018 – August 2023. Data source: IPS Dashboard – Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Resource Hub – FutureNHS Collaboration Platform
A review of the CPFT IPS service in July 2023 showed that the people accessing this service are representative of the general local population. The majority of referrals were from adult locality mental health teams, with around 10 – 20% being from primary care.
The Lifecraft Employment Service was relaunched in July 2022. From this time to August 2023, this service:
- Had 27 individual referrals.
- Supported 9 people into work and 1 person into volunteering.
- Supported another 6 people to move towards their employment goals.
- Referrals into the service came from a variety of channels: self-referral (6), IPS (6), Lifecraft (5), Red Balloon in the Air (4), primary care (3) and other (3).
- The average age of those referred to the service was 36.
Contacts
The number of direct contacts (face-to-face, telephone, or video) made by CPFT’s IPS service has substantially increased since November 2019.
Figure 86: Number of direct contacts with the CPFT IPS service, November 2019 – August 2023. Data source: IPS Dashboard – Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Resource Hub – FutureNHS Collaboration Platform
What are people’s experiences of this service?
From the CPFT IPS service:
- Service users report that ‘I don’t know where I would be today without the help of my Employment Specialist’
- Clinical teams say that ‘IPS is a really good service, they are extremely helpful for my role and it is great that there is support out there for people who feel that they have no purpose. IPS is another strand of the road to recovery for people. Particularly, the collaborative working is great, the IPS team are approachable, friendly, happy to help and always visible’
- A case study of Pansy, who was supported by this service, is provided on their website.
Until November 2022, The Richmond Fellowship also provided support through their Access to Work service. This service provided assistance with skills such as interview techniques, application forms, CV writing and career guidance. It also offered coping strategies and aims to provide signposting and support for mental health challenges. Service user feedback from this service was very positive, with a small survey with 9 participants finding that people felt highly satisfied by the service and that advisors help to build their confidence in job searching.
Additional resources
References
Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.