Supported Employment

Help for people with disabilities to find work and to stay in work

If you or someone you know has a disability, the Supported Employment Team may be able to provide advice or support them to find or maintain work.

By providing the right support, we can help develop job skills, look for paid or voluntary work and overcome barriers to employment.

We work with people who are residents of Brighton & Hove, over the age of 18 and who have disabilities.

However, the team regularly receives more referrals than we have capacity to take on. For that reason we use a priority system to decide which people will be taken onto our caseload. Our priorities reflect the requirements of our funders.

We give priority to people who fall into one or more of the following categories:

• people with learning disabilities - see Mencap's explanation of what a learning disability is
• people with autism - see National Autistic Society explanation of what autism is
• people who are known to Brighton & Hove City Council’s social care services
• people who are on out of work benefits and Jobcentre Plus know they have a limited capability for work - find out about universal credit and read about Employment and Support Allowance on the GOV.UK website
• young adults, under 25 years old, who are ‘Not In Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET)
• people with disabilities who already have a job or a firm job offer and they and their employer need our help to maintain that job
• people who demonstrate motivation and a commitment to participating in searching for work and a genuine desire to be employed

For employers

The Supported Employment Team helps employers find suitable employees and have a more diverse workforce.

We can help organisations looking for paid or voluntary workers. We also support those who are already employed but are having difficulties because of their disability. 

How the Supported Employment Team helps 

The supported employment service in Brighton & Hove is a small team that provides intensive and personalised employment support with small caseloads for each worker.

We follow the values and methods of the Supported Employment model.

Our work is funded by Brighton & Hove City Council, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and the European Social Fund (ESF). 

You can learn more about Supported Employment on the British Association of Supported Employment website. 

Get help

To get help complete the referral form. You can ask someone to fill in the form for you.

Useful websites

• British Association of Supported Employment
• Employing disabled people and people with health conditions (GOV.UK)
• Disability Confident campaign (GOV.UK)
• Office for Disability Issues (GOV.UK)
• Equality Advisory Service
• National Careers Service
• Acas – information, advice, and other services for employers and employees to help prevent or resolve workplace problems

Contact us

Email address: SET@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Phone: 01273 295961