BUILD, WORK and SHAPE: three routes into earning
Every route here leads to the same place: earning, on terms that work for you.
BUILD Independent enterprise
BUILD helps you set up a business or trade that can pay you.
What it can involve
- Understanding strengths and goals
- Testing whether a trading model actually adds up
- Removing practical access barriers
- Mentoring and structured reviews
- Connecting a person to products, supply, fulfilment, venues or pitches
What to expect
The business is yours to run, with help to test the numbers before you commit. Every enterprise carries some risk, and we talk that through openly from the start.
WORK Genuine paid employment
WORK helps you into a paid role with a real employer, with the adjustments you need and room to progress.
What it can involve
- 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
What to expect
Each role is agreed with an employer around the person, so this page carries no vacancy list. Expectations are set by what you can do, and the adjustments you need are part of the role from the start. Employers can offer a paid role.
SHAPE Paid co-design and testing
SHAPE pays you to design, test and improve businesses, technology, services and physical equipment.
This is skilled work and it is paid as skilled work. Accessibility problems are cheapest to fix before a product is finalised, and the people who find them fastest are the people who hit them. Organisations can commission paid co-design.
Where SHAPE applies
Idea
What the product or service is for.
Requirements
What it must do, and for whom.
Production
It gets made.
Launch
People use it.
SHAPE works here. A barrier found before requirements are signed off is a change of plan.
The same barrier found after launch is a rebuild, and the people it excluded have already been excluded.
What it can involve
- Paid co-design sessions
- Accessibility testing of products, spaces and services
- Identifying barriers before requirements are signed off
- Testing adjustments alongside whether they are commercially viable
What to expect
Every design is developed and tested with co-designers before its specification is agreed, and co-designers are paid for that work.
Which route fits
Choosing is part of the conversation. Register your interest, say what you are drawn to, and we will work it out together, including “more than one” and “I am not sure”.
Each opportunity depends on fit and on the partners and funding in place, and we will be clear with you about what is available.