Information for Service Users
How does the process work?
Once you are referred into the service your referral is triaged. We are looking to make sure we have all the information we need, as well as checking your eligibility for the service. If there are any issues at this point, someone from the team will be in contact with either yourself or the person who referred you.
It is possible that you may be put onto a waiting list for the service, this is normal and due to demand on the service. This is also why there is a 9 month time frame on this part of the service. You will be contacted to let you know whether you are accepted or if you are on a waiting list.
Once you are accepted onto a caseload, your allocated Employment Support Worker will make contact with you to arrange a face to face meeting. This meeting will happen within 10 working days (2 weeks) of your being accepted into the service. Where you meet is up to you to decide with your Employment Support Worker- it could be a cafe, a Local Authority Hub or your Community Mental Health Team/GP office for example. The only place we cannot meet you is in a residence.
At this face to face meeting, your Employment Support Worker will talk with you about what types of jobs you want, putting the focus on you and what inspires and motivates you. Together, you can discuss this and make long, medium and short term plans to try and get you there. You will also write your CV, if you don't already have one, and discuss what your needs are from this service. We are here to support you and to be guided by you to help you achieve a positive outcome, focused on competitive employment. We will also discuss whether or not you wish to disclose to potential employers your mental health and the impacts this could have.
As a team, you and your Employment Specialist will aim to have made first contact with a prospective employer within 4 weeks of your start date with the service.
In the first month of your interaction with the IPSPC service you will meet your Employment Specialist weekly, together you will look for suitable jobs or training, talk about worries you may have- like job interview techniques, and discuss how you are finding the process so far. You will be expected to take the lead on this process, identify and apply for jobs which you are interested in, as well as maintain your CV and workpack. We will be there to help and guide you, and we will also be happy to make contact with employers on your behalf (and with your permission) to find the right role for you.
In the second month of your interaction with the IPSPC you will meet every other week, and at every meeting from that point onwards you and your Employment Specialist will review your CV and update it if you have anything to add since you last met, you will review your plans and how your job search is progressing.
At the mid way point, around the end of month 4, you and your Employment Specialist will have a more in-depth review of your progress so far. What has worked for you and what hasn't? Does anything need to change to help you obtain paid work?
From month 4 through 8 you will meet your Employment Specialist at least once a month.
In month 9, if you have been unsuccessful in securing work, your Employment Specialist will go over your CV and other vocational documents which you may have compiled together with you and review your journey and signpost you on to other services if appropriate. You can re-refer back into the service as many times as you like, but each time you can only be open to services for 9 months. You will be asked to complete an exit interview, so that we can learn what we can do better to help keep this service relevant and tailored to our service users.
At any stage of this process, when you are offered employment your Employment Specialist will carry out the “Better Off” calculation to ensure that if you are on benefits, you will not be worse off for accepting a paid position.
What happens once I get offered a job?
Once you get a job, your worries will change. You may find yourself concerned about how to get to work, what to wear, or the social aspects that we all struggle with when we start a new job.
This is where your Specialist Support Worker will support you.
Once you inform your Employment Specialist that you have been offered a job they will introduce you to their Specialist Support Worker. You will then move onto their caseload so that they can use their specialist knowledge and skills to help support you.
In the week before you start your new job you will meet with your Specialist Support Worker and discuss any concerns you may have. These could be how will you afford to get the bus to work before you have a pay check, or how to talk to a manager about your mental health for example.
Your Specialist Support Worker will be able to help guide you and may be able to meet with your new manager if you want them to.
Once you start your new job your Specialist Support Worker will make contact again to see how you are getting on and whether you need anything from them at that point. From then on, you will meet with your Specialist Support Worker weekly for the first month, fortnightly for the second month and monthly for the third month. At the end of month 4, your Specialist Support Worker will complete an exit interview with you to help us identify what has gone well or not well with the service, as well as one final review of your CV, to make it ready for any future progression that you make in your job.
Your Specialist Support Worker can also help by having discussions with your new manager about reasonable adjustments, or by signposting them to ways that they can learn to support you in the workplace.
If you decide that you do not want the services of your Support Worker at any time, that is fine also- they will just carry out the exit interview and final document review with you at that point.
If you would like to self-refer onto the service, please follow the link below: