Getting a job can be a really difficult time for disabled young people, and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Several organisations provide services that help disabled/SEND young people into work. If you have used one of these services, we would love to hear from you.
Bucks services that help disabled/SEND young people into work include DWP job coaches, Jobcentres, New Meaning, Macintyre, Talkback, and BuDS Reach4Work. There are lots of others, but these are the main services, which we call “disability employment support services”.
We would like to talk to you about your experience of using disability employment support services, focusing on any barriers you may have faced, and the quality of support you received. We would also like to talk to you if you wanted to use a disability employment support service, but couldn’t find one that would help you. We’d also like to hear any ideas that you may have about how to improve these services.
If you’d like to get involved, please click the button below, complete the short form, and we will be in touch with you. If you’d like to know more, please keep reading.
- More About Getting Involved
- Who Can Get Involved?
- Why Are We Doing This?
- Carers & Family Members
- Confidentiality
- More About Our Research
- Questions?
- Funding
More About Getting Involved
A member of our friendly team will chat to you at a time that is convenient for you. You can have a parent or carer present if you’d like to. Everything you tell us is completely confidential, and we won’t pass any information to anyone outside BuDS without your permission. In particular, we will not share information with the DWP, with your family, or with the service you used. You can speak to us entirely freely.
Before you speak to us, we will send you a participant information document, and you will have the chance to ask us any questions, so that you feel comfortable getting involved.
We will chat to you by telephone or video, using MS Teams. If a video interview is not accessible for you, that’s not a problem. We will work with you in the way that suits you best. For example, you may want to chat by text or email, or use BSL. Just let us know, and we will make it work.
We will ask for your permission to record the interview. This helps us make an accurate record of what you said. However, if you don’t want the interview to be recorded, just tell us. You will still be able to take part in our research.
Who Can Get Involved?
If you meet the criteria below, we would be delighted to have you as part of this research project.
- You need to be a disabled person as defined by the Equality Act 2010. This is anyone with a long-term impairment, health condition, or neurodiversity which has a significant impact on their daily life. You don’t have to think of yourself as a disabled person, or call yourself a disabled person, but you do have to meet the legal definition. (Note: You may have received extra support at school, college, or university as a person with “special educational needs and disabilities” (SEND). If you did, then you are a disabled person for the purposes of the Equality Act. If you didn’t get SEND support at school, college, or university, you may still be a disabled person for the purposes of the Equality Act.)
- You need to have either:
- Used a disability employment support service when you left education to help you get a job, or
- Wanted to use a disability employment support service when you left education to help you get a job
If you don’t meet the criteria, we sadly can’t include you in this research project. However, we may be able to include you in a future research project. If you would like to register an interest in a future research project, please click the button below and fill in our short form.
Why Are We Doing This?
BuDS is working to improve the services which support disabled and SEND young people to get a job. To do this, we need to know what disabled/SEND young people themselves think of the services which can help them into work.
We will use the information given to us to compile a report. The report will be published and used to campaign for better services to support disabled and SEND young people to get a job. BuDS is an organisation of disabled people, and we are determined that disabled people get the best help possible.
Carers & Family Members
We would like to hear directly from disabled/SEND young people about their experiences. If you would like a family member or carer to support you, or if you need their help to communicate, we are of course happy with this.
If you are a family member or carer for a disabled/SEND young person, and would like to give your views about disability employment support services, we would love to hear from you too. Your views as a family member or carer will be recorded separately from those of disabled/SEND young people themselves.
Confidentiality
All the information you give us will be confidential, and we will never reveal any personal details about you. Although we will be publishing a report, personal details will be changed to protect your identity and privacy. You can learn more about our privacy policy using the button below.
This research is independent. Although the results will be used to lobby and campaign for better disability employment support services in Buckinghamshire, the DWP, Buckinghamshire Council, and individual services are not involved in any way with the research, and no personal information will be shared with them. Please feel free to share your honest opinions and views with us – no-one outside BuDS will know what you have said.
More About Our Research
The information you give us will form part of our larger research project into SEND transitions and employment support in Buckinghamshire. You can learn more about this research project using the button below.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please complete the contact form below and we will be in touch with you as soon as we can.
Funding
The BuDS SEND Transitions Service, and this research project, are kindly funded by the Rothschild Foundation.