The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education.
The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work. This page explains the Employment workstream, which is within the BuDS Reach4Work project.
What Is The Employment Workstream Of The SEND Transitions Service?
The Employment Workstream is focused on improving the experience of disabled young people moving from education to work. It has three parts:
- An independent research project into the scope and quality of the services available to support disabled young people moving from education to employment
- Polling and focus groups to capture the authentic voices of disabled young people themselves about their transition from education to work
- Recommendations for action to improve the experience of disabled young people moving from education to employment, including recommendations for new or improved services
Independent Research Project
Working in collaboration with charities in the sector, local and county councils, schools, and other relevant organisations, BuDS is launching an independent research project into the scope and quality of the services available to support disabled young people moving from education to employment. This research will be published and available to other stakeholders, to inform their work and help stimulate a debate about improving services.
Because of the scope and diversity of the services supporting disabled young people into work, the research will be carried out in phases, each phase looking at a particular aspect of the transition to work. The first phase of research, aiming to report in April 2023, is focusing on services supporting neurodivergent and learning disabled young people into work. The focus of future phases will be announced soon.
We are currently meeting directly with service providers about their employment support offering, and will follow this up with more detailed enquiries after we have the results of the surveys below.
The Authentic Voices Of Disabled Young People
BuDS is a disabled peoples’ organisation, and one of our primary aims is always to facilitate and amplify the voices of disabled people themselves. The Employment Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service will be engaging with disabled young people directly, to discover and record their experiences of transition from school to employment. The views of young disabled people themselves must be the key evidence base which drives change. It is only through truly listening that we can hope to address the barriers disabled young people face.
Surveys
The Employment Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service has launched two confidential surveys:
- Asking young disabled people about their school to employment transition at ages 18-24, and asking about any specific worries or barriers they faced when trying to get into work. We are also asking about any issues that arose when making work more suitable for their needs.
- Asking young disabled people about specific employment support services they have used and how those services could have better supported them
The surveys are currently live, and can be accessed here.
Once the surveys have closed, we will review all of the survey feedback to identify common issues. This analysis will be published (protecting the identity of survey respondents).
Recommendations & Findings
Work is still underway on the first phase of research and surveys – the full recommendations and findings will be published in April 2023.
Growing Reach4Work
Reach4Work is BuDS’ own service to support disabled people into work. Operating for over a decade, it is highly successful with a high percentage of those taking part moving into work or further education. We work with disabled people to equip them with the skills and confidence to succeed, and provide the support needed for them to find suitable and long-lasting employment that can enrich their lives.
Growing and developing the Reach4Work project is one of the key outcomes for the Employment Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service. Where research and polling exposes gaps in services, Reach4Work will move to fill those gaps, as part of the overall network of disability employment services.
Funding
The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is kindly funded by the Rothschild Foundation.