Since 2010, BuDS has helped its volunteers towards work. Our Reach4Work project, created in 2018, codified and developed that help, creating a professional wrap-around service for our disabled volunteers who want to move into or closer to work.
BuDS is exceptionally successful at moving disabled jobseeker volunteers into or closer to work…
What Is Reach4Work?
Reach4Work is an exceptionally successful support service for disabled people looking to move closer to or get into work. The key elements of Reach4Work are:
- BuDS is a supportive, inclusive and caring community which provides exceptional emotional and peer support to disabled jobseekers. When a disabled jobseeker joins BuDS, they are not merely a client or service-user but a member of the charity, a full participant in our wider working community.
- The volunteer role which job seekers have within a BuDS project is bespoke and structured to provide the experience, skills and networking which the individual jobseeker needs – it is a fantastic work experience role created for the benefit of both the charity and the jobseeker, with highly supportive staff and volunteer support.
- Reach4Work provides disabled jobseekers with professional employment support elements such as training, mentoring, interview and CV skills, job placements, etc. Every participant has an Individual Support Plan and a one-to-one mentor.
- Through the work of the BucksWorkability project, jobseekers are brought into contact with local employers who are already being helped to create inclusive workplaces and opportunities for disabled workers.
Unsurprisingly, BuDS is exceptionally successful at moving disabled jobseeker volunteers into or closer to work, with 95% reporting positive progress. Around a third of our disabled jobseeker volunteers move into work or vocational training within a year of starting with BuDS.
In March 2020, Reach4Work became an online service. This has proven to be a highly effective way of working for most disabled people, and online working will remain part of Reach4Work indefinitely. We recognise that some disabled people, particularly learning disabled, autistic, and visually impaired people, work more effectively face-to-face. We are therefore seeking funding to open a Covid-safe Reach4Work Base for those disabled people who prefer face-to-face working.
Supporting Young Disabled Jobseekers
Reach4Work has always been open to young people aged 18-25. In 2021, BuDS received funding from Children in Need and the Youth Work Foundation to expand our work with disabled school leavers and young people. This enabled us to support an additional 30 disabled young people, all of whom made good progress and some of whom entered employment despite the constraints of the pandemic. We also supported virtual school career fairs, as well as working with employers interested in employing young disabled people.
We continue to work with disabled young jobseekers and are seeking funding to expand this area of our work, particularly building more relationships with local schools, colleges, youth charities and Pupil Referral Units, and developing a specific service for disabled school leavers.
Reach4Work Digital

Reach4Work Digital is a project unique to BuDS. It offers disabled young people the opportunity to gain key skills and experience to get jobs in the digital sector. The team employs Agile methodology, which is widely used in the digital sector. The project has built close links with local technology and IT employers. It is run entirely by disabled people who are actively looking for work, with some staff support, and are working towards delivering high quality products to industry standards, including phone apps, online databases and websites, including creating the BucksWorkability website, as well as working on the development version of the Reach4Work website.
BuDS is seeking funding to launch another Reach4Work Digital team in order to meet demand for support. The project also aims to diversify into other areas such the digital creative sector, including gaming.
Reach4Work Work Experience
Reach4Work Work Experience provides disabled school, college, and university students with high quality work experience.
In summer 2021, Reach4Work Work Experience offered places to law students, many of whom where disabled, giving them the chance to work on a range of issues relating to disability and the law. The project was very successful with over 100 applicants, 30 of whom were selected. The students produced high quality work across a range of fields including benefit, mental health and SEND law. All participating students gave great feedback, and BuDS is delighted that four of them subsequently stayed as long-term volunteers.
In summer 2022, Reach4Work Work Experience offered places again to law students, this time focusing on disability hate crime issues. The project was again very successful, with participating students giving great feedback. Their work has supported our Disability Hate Crime project, and again some of the students have joined BuDS as long-term project volunteers. Some of their work can be read here.
Sadly, resources did not permit a summer work experience project in 2023, but we are seeking funding to run a project in 2024.
Growing Reach4Work
Reach4Work is delivered by the whole BuDS community, but supporting disabled jobseekers takes time and needs dedicated and experienced staff alongside our volunteers. Reach4Work has reduced in size in 2023 as Covid-19 contingency funding came to end, and we are now seeking long-term replacement funding to restore the service to its original size and expand it further.