The Supported Internship is about removing barriers to employment. Young people with learning difficulties, disabilities or additional needs can face significant barriers when attempting to move from education into employment.
These can include lack of workplace experience, limited confidence, employer perceptions, communication barriers, travel difficulties and uncertainty about what type of work is appropriate.
The Supported Internship is designed specifically around removing these barriers.
Rather than asking a young person to become “work ready” before giving them an opportunity, the programme develops their skills through real work, with the fundamental goal being successful and sustainable paid employment outcomes. This philosophy is embedded within Active Tameside’s approach which is evident by the 46 employees that are still employed within our business after successfully progression from the programme over the years.
The strength of the programme comes from the partnership between Tameside College and Active Tameside. Plus, the strong links with Tameside Hospital who also act as a host employer, Tameside College and other local businesses.
Tameside College provides the educational element of the programme, while Active Tameside acts as the employer host and provides workplace placements and experience. This creates a genuinely integrated model.
The intern does not have to choose between education and employment preparation. They receive both.
The programme combines classroom-based learning with practical work experience, allowing learners to apply what they have learned immediately in the workplace.
Interns experience a range of departments and roles according to their interests and vocational profile.
Within Active Tameside, opportunities have included areas such as catering, domestic services, adult day services and other operational environments. This is important because the programme does not create artificial, unsustainable employment.
Interns are expected to learn workplace behaviours, communicate with colleagues and customers, work as part of a team, follow procedures, manage responsibilities and develop the resilience required to sustain employment.
A dedicated Job Coach provides individualised support to interns and employers, helping young people develop skills, overcome barriers and transition successfully into the workplace.
This support is gradually adapted as confidence and competence increase, meaning the Intern is not dependence on a Job Coach. It is progression towards independence to best prepare them for paid employment.
A major milestone for the programme has been successfully completing the Supported Internship Quality Assurance Framework (SIQAF) assessment.
SIQAF provides a structured framework for assessing the quality and effectiveness of supported internship programmes. It covers six key areas:
•Leadership
•Planning
•Partnership
•Preparedness
•Progress
•Results
The framework is designed not simply as an inspection exercise, but as a mechanism for reflection, quality assurance and continuous improvement.
Successfully going through the SIQAF process demonstrates the commitment to ensuring thatthe Supported Internship is operating against recognised quality standards.
It also provided an opportunity for Active Tameside and its partners to challenge existing practice, identify areas for development and strengthen the programme for future interns.
The programme has a strong track record of progression. Tameside College has publicly highlighted previous cohorts progressing into paid employment, including young people securing roles within Active Tameside and other local employers.
Current programme figures 25/26:
•20 interns supported enrolled
•42 workplace placements offered
•16 completing the programme
•9 progressing into paid employment
•3 interns progressing into employment with Active Tameside
•18 qualifications achieved
•Appropriate referrals made to Routes to Work, further education or Adult Services for all who haven’t achieved paid employment
These figures should ultimately be judged alongside the individual stories behind them. Every successful transition represents a young person moving from uncertainty about their future to having a job, an income, increased independence and a genuine sense of belonging in the workforce.
This is the wider message behind Active Tameside’s Supported Internship.
Young people with additional needs should not be viewed primarily through the lens of what they cannot do. The programme creates opportunities for employers to see what they can do. That change in perspective is transformational.
The next stage of the Supported Internship is to build on the programme’s established success and create even more opportunities for young people to move into sustainable paid employment.
The ambition is to strengthen the pathway:
Education → Work Experience → Skills → Confidence → Employment → Career Progression
Active Tameside will continue to identify opportunities across its own services while strengthening relationships with external employers.
The objective is to create placements that reflect genuine market opportunities which will, in turn, increase progression into paid employment
The programme will continue to focus on employment as the ultimate destination. This means working with employers from the beginning of the internship to understand their workforce needs and identify opportunities that could lead to sustainable roles.
In addition, there is a continuous need of investment in specialist Job Coach provision to ensure interns receive the right level of support while also helping employers develop confidence in supporting colleagues with additional needs.
Likewise, the need to continue to review again the SIQAF to keep driving improvements.
This programme has been really effective for Active Tameside as a business by placing ourselves as inclusive employer and developing inclusivity as part of our core culture with every intern who enters Active Tameside brings new learning for managers and colleagues.
Teams become more confident in making reasonable adjustments, adapting communication and recognising different ways of working. Inclusion therefore becomes part of workforce development.
The ultimate ambition is to make disability inclusion a normal part of workforce planning. A young person should not have to overcome a system designed without them in mind.
Therefore, the Supported Internship demonstrates that with the right partnership between education and employers, paid employment can be the pathway for many young people who have previously been told that are incapable of those ambitions.
We do not see ourselves as an organisation prepared to offer work placements for young people – we see ourselves as creating opportunities for them to become part of our workforce.
