Staying Employed: In-Work Support, Reviews & Progression
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📘 Blog 7 of 7 in our Supported Employment Series
Staying Employed: In-Work Support, Reviews & Progression
Links to all 7 blogs in this series are at the bottom of this post.
🔁 Why Ongoing Support Matters
Employment should not be seen as the “end goal.” The real aim is sustained, fulfilling work that lasts beyond the first few weeks. People with learning disabilities or autism may need ongoing support to adapt to new tasks, manage changes in workplace culture, or handle personal challenges that affect work.
Commissioners look for services that take a long-term view, demonstrating how you keep people in work, not just how you place them there. This is where working with a home care bid writer or a learning disability tender specialist can help you frame your model in a way that commissioners will score highly.
🛠 What Ongoing Support Looks Like
Good services put structured systems in place to ensure people thrive once employed. This includes:
- Regular progress reviews with both the person and employer to check that expectations are being met and challenges addressed
- Check-ins at key milestones (for example, 3, 6, and 12 months) to monitor sustainability and provide reassurance
- Support with career progression, not just retention, so individuals continue to grow in confidence and responsibility
- Flexible re-engagement of job coaches if difficulties arise, providing a safety net without undermining independence
- Employer guidance when workplace changes happen, such as new managers, restructures, or technology upgrades
Done well, this support is light-touch, empowering, and adaptive — helping people succeed without creating dependency.
📊 In Tender Responses
Commissioners are looking for evidence that you understand employment is a journey, not a single destination. Strong responses will show:
- How structured reviews are built into your supported employment model
- Examples of people progressing from entry-level roles into greater responsibility
- Partnership approaches with employers to resolve challenges before they escalate
- Data and stories of retention, not just recruitment
Describing these clearly can be the difference between a generic “we provide in-work support” and a scoring answer commissioners value. Our proofreading & review service ensures these points come across with impact and clarity.
🌱 Real-World Examples
Practical examples help commissioners see the value in your model. For instance:
- A young man with a learning disability who started in retail was supported to progress into a supervisory role over three years, with tailored coaching and milestone reviews.
- A woman with autism who struggled when her employer introduced new technology was given retraining and on-the-job adjustment with temporary coaching, avoiding job loss.
- An employer partnership led to a system of peer mentors in the workplace, reducing the need for long-term external support and building confidence within the team.
These examples illustrate that in-work support is about growth and resilience, not just maintenance.
➡️ Broader Impact
Approaches to in-work support strengthen more than supported employment bids. The principles of structured reviews, progression planning, and independence-building also enhance domiciliary care bids and home care submissions, where commissioners want reassurance that services are sustainable, proactive, and centred on outcomes.
Embedding this into your tenders shows that your service is future-focused, person-centred, and partnership-driven.
📚 Catch up on the full Supported Employment Series:
- 🌟 From Aspirations to Real Jobs
- 🧭 Person-Led Vocational Profiling
- 🤝 Building Employer Partnerships
- 🪜 Effective Job Coaching
- 📊 Measuring Outcomes that Matter
- 🧩 Making Reasonable Adjustments Work
- 🔁 Staying Employed: In-Work Support, Reviews & Progression