How the WORK route leads to genuine paid employment

WORK is the IT’S POSSIBLE NOW route into genuine paid employment. A role is agreed with an employer around the person, with the adjustments they need built in from the start and real chances to stay and progress.

What WORK involves

• Identifying a suitable role
• Working with an employer or host organisation
• Agreeing clear expectations
• Identifying reasonable adjustments
• Reviewing whether the arrangement is working
• Supporting retention and progression

Expectations are set by what you can do. The adjustments you need are part of the role from the start, not something to ask for later.

Kinds of work

The roles WORK covers include:

• Digital retail
• Photography
• Product listing
• Customer operations
• Stock
• Packing and fulfilment
• Administration
• Roles with external employers

Several of these are the practical tasks at Nuriqa, a digital retail, reuse and fulfilment business that is one of the settings where opportunities are developed. The last item is the wider one: IT’S POSSIBLE NOW also works with employers outside its own settings, so opportunities are not limited to its own projects.

Adjustments and practical support

Reasonable adjustments are the changes an employer must legally make so that a worker with a disability or health condition can do their job. difability.uk gives examples such as a different way of interviewing, flexible hours or different equipment.

GOV.UK describes a separate source of help. Its Access to Work programme can give a grant towards practical support, such as specialist equipment and assistive software, support workers, or the costs of getting to work when public transport is not an option. GOV.UK says the programme does not pay for the reasonable adjustments an employer must make, and that it will advise an employer if changes should be made as reasonable adjustments.

IT’S POSSIBLE NOW’s second step is to work out the practical changes and support that would make the difference. That conversation includes whether government support applies. The Access to Work article sets out what the programme covers and where to apply.

Staying and progressing

Placing someone in a job is the start. The fourth step on How it works is to keep checking whether the arrangement is working, to change it when it is not, and to look for the next step: more hours, more customers or more responsibility.

WORK records paid starts, hours, earnings, retention and progression. Those measures follow the person after the job begins. How we measure what happens next explains each group of measures.

How employers take part

An employer can offer a genuine paid role with clear expectations, proper adjustments and a way to progress. That is the Employ option on the partners page. Employers who want to talk it through can use the contact form and choose “I represent an employer”, or go straight to the employer form.

Each role is agreed with the employer around the person, so this site carries no vacancy list. Each opportunity depends on fit and on the partners and funding in place, and we will be clear with you about what is available.

If you are looking for work

Register your interest and tell us that WORK interests you. You can choose more than one route, or “I am not sure”, and the route is worked out together in conversation. You never need to share a diagnosis to register.