Restart Scheme supported participants in breaking down employment barriers on a case-by-case basis using various strategies, such as training, career counselling, and enhancing job search and employability skills, to facilitate a successful return to the workforce. WISE Ability’s Restart Scheme provided up to twelve months of tailored enhanced support to participants who have been out of work for at least one year, helping them to find jobs. Staff worked with employers, local authorities, and other partners to generate employment opportunities and encourage and empower employers to recruit Restart participants. WISE Ability delivered the Restart Scheme in the Dorset region on behalf of Seetec, which was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver the Restart Scheme across South West England.

WISE Ability delivered Sheffield’s Working Ex-Offenders as the lead contractor providing employment support to offenders in custody and ex-offenders for the Sheffield City Council. WISE Ability provided intensive pre and post-release case management and facilitated access to all necessary supports, such as accommodation, education, health and wellbeing services, training, and employment. Outcomes derived are wide-ranging. Many participants completed vocational training and gained sustainable employment. Support also resulted in positive lifestyle changes, reduced recidivism, reduced substance abuse, increased community participation, and numerous other social, employment-related and health benefits.

WISE Ability implemented the Building Better Opportunities (BBO) programme in the Sheffield City Region on behalf of the South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA). Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the ESF, this initiative significantly empowered individuals who had multiple complex barriers to employment and facilitated positive change. The initiative used an Individual Placement Support (IPS) approach, combining the expertise of employment specialists and health and care professionals to ensure holistic support, prioritising placement first and helping individuals secure sustainable employment.

WISE Ability supported young people not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) or At Risk of NEET across the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership area, focusing on moving customers into the labour market. CSW subcontracted WISE Ability to deliver SS YP NEET in Dorset.

NEET customers faced various issues such as low socio-economic status, parental factors (e.g., lack of positive parental role models, divorce, parental unemployment), unstable living arrangements (e.g., not living with either parent, at risk of homelessness), and low educational attainment. There are varying reasons and risk factors why young people may opt out of education. Some commonly observed risk factors include leaving school early due to negative experiences such as bullying, persistent truancy, expulsion and suspension, behavioural problems, learning difficulties and inability to gain entrance into college or other levels of schooling.

Amplifying their vulnerability are disability, economic hardship, and alcohol and illicit drug abuse (e.g., spice cannabis, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and misuse of prescription stimulants). Many struggle considerably with mental illness, suicidal behaviour, poor social skills, sexual exploitation, a criminal record, and lack of psychological support (e.g., family or friends), intensifying the risk of social disengagement and marginalisation. A majority of young people who are NEET have reduced employability assets due to low levels of education, lack of qualifications, lack of work experience, or their previous employment status being “off the books”. It makes accessing the labour market more difficult for some young people. These barriers can be both the cause and consequence of becoming and being NEET.

WISE Ability offered a wide range of services to address the diverse needs of NEET customers, considering the complexity and diversity of barriers they faced. It ensured an individualised approach and appropriate support for sustainable integration into the labour market. Through customer-centred support, participants were enabled to take different pathways and features. In some cases, customers are anxious about their social status, have a negative view of the future, may not know what to do with their lives, feel lost, lack purpose, and have low self-confidence, which may contribute to reduced motivation and difficulties making decisions.

Staff supported customers in formulating life goals that are realistic, ambitious, and targeted to opportunities in employment, higher education and training to realise their full potential. Our integrated and holistic approach provided wrap-around support, assisting customers in navigating the broad range of community service options and resources relevant to their needs. These strategies facilitated customers’ transition to employment, education or training, enabling them to gain a foothold in the labour market and lead them to long-term, sustainable jobs and better lives.

WISE Ability successfully delivered SSU, offering accredited and non-accredited training. WISE Ability was subcontracted to deliver SSU by The Growth Company in the Sheffield City Region and DTS Learndirect in the West of England. At the time of enrolment with our SSU programme, customers were long‐term unemployed, lacked qualifications or the necessary English language proficiency, had limited access to technology and childcare, had justice commitments, a disability, health conditions, financial barriers, or were involved in substance abuse support, transgender-related care, or the criminal justice system. Other significant barriers to completing training included poverty participants’ low self-efficacy and lack of belief in their capability to study and learn. Low learning self-efficacy can be associated with poor previous educational experiences, such as bullying and trauma, leading to a sense of helplessness and dropping out of school, which can deter their engagement in future training courses. In addition, many of our older SSU customers/learners had been involved in years of menial work requiring lower skills and knowledge, mismatched to the current labour market needs. A lack of highly skilled and educated workers is a rising concern as the demand for talent increases, given the context of technology and automation deemed to shape the future of the workforce across the UK. Our qualified and experienced staff trained more than 1,000 participants, supporting them in acquiring knowledge, skills, and qualifications, developing their employability skills, and bringing them closer to employment.

WISE Ability delivered the Work and Health Programme on behalf of Shaw Trust across Warwickshire and Coventry. The programme was a national employment service funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, targeting a diverse range of people with a disability and people experiencing long-term unemployment, complex situations, and multiple barriers to employment. It included vocational profiling, training, and education to enhance skills and capabilities and help gain competitive employment. Support was offered to customers, which facilitated work entry and continued engagement. When employment was secured, WISE Ability continued providing in-work support to prevent deterioration until the employee was settled in their job.

BBO UCan was a project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund that used match funding from the European Social Fund to invest in local projects tackling the root causes of poverty, promoting social inclusion, and driving local jobs and growth. WISE Ability Services successfully secured funding for BBO priority 1.4: Active inclusion to deliver our UCan project in the South of England’s Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area.

BBO UCan supported unemployed and economically disadvantaged adults who faced multiple and complex barriers to employment and their families whilst following government guidance. Support was delivered across the South of England’s LEP area. BBO UCan was tailored to participants’ needs, from supporting them with job searching, training, and education to gaining employment. It offered significant holistic support to help customers overcome personal challenges, enhance their skills, capabilities, and resilience, and to regain their independence.

Our participants came from diverse backgrounds and had different aspirations and needs. UCan placed particular emphasis on those aged 25 and over, people aged over 50, those with a disability, intergenerational worklessness, rural isolation, and economically inactive armed forces families.

WISE Ability Services received positive feedback from participants and employers, demonstrating that staff provided excellent personalised service, engaging, supporting, and empowering participants through various activities and interventions to achieve their goals.

UCan delivered employability-focused information, advice, guidance, and training to help participants build effective coping strategies, develop their confidence, improve their cognitive functioning for everyday tasks, and enhance core employment skills to make employment achievable. A key focus was assisting participants in obtaining paid employment, including finding work experience and volunteer placements towards paid employment.

Critical to successfully employing people with disability and other disadvantages, WISE Ability Services worked with businesses and employers, successfully educating them on the value of a diverse and inclusive workforce. This activity generated a broad range of employment placements for our UCan participants.

An evaluation assessed the benefits to UCan participants, communities, and businesses. It highlighted the exemplary work carried out by WISE Ability Services’ staff and the support of its stakeholders.

Our social enterprise ‘Edisons & Co’ was based in Sheffield’s city centre. ‘Edisons & Co’ was established to facilitate the economic and social inclusion of people with a disability or disadvantage. It served to break down community stigma, educate on equality issues and improve community perceptions regarding how disadvantage is perceived and understood. ‘Edisons & Co’ had an essential role in assisting the community’s most marginalised and disadvantaged members, who found it challenging to secure work or maintain employment in the open labour market. It provided training and work experience opportunities in skills in-demand roles such as baristas, cooks and catering assistants.

WISE Ability delivered the Staffordshire Recovery Hub for people on their journey toward mental health recovery. The Hub provided a person-centred, proactive, and recovery-focused approach with advice, support, and services to people experiencing significant mental health challenges. Staffordshire Recovery Hub was delivered with Mental Health Matters, Making Space, South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

WISE Ability also participated in public policy dialogue and development activities, public talks and information sessions, conferences, research and written reports to educate and increase the public and employers’ understanding of disability and other disadvantages and the importance of offering employment opportunities to this cohort.

Food for Thought offered work experience for disadvantaged people (service users). It allowed service users to experience different roles, such as baristas, cooks and catering assistants, in a supported work environment. This helped improve their self-esteem, confidence and work readiness as a pathway into open competitive employment.

WISE Ability delivered NCS, providing customised support to adults aged 18 and over. All individuals referred were offered free information and resources to identify career goals, explore the job market, update skills, connect with relevant services, and plan and manage their careers. Our Advisors delivered a broad range of information online, over the telephone, and in person on different career pathways, training options (including funding and subsidies available), specific job vacancies, and access to job search tools such as a curriculum vitae, cover letter builder, plans and assessments. Staff supported customers in overcoming barriers and issues such as dealing with redundancy, moving between jobs, returning to work after a period of absence for reasons such as disability, sickness, and being recently released from prison. We delivered this service in South Yorkshire on behalf of the Education Development Trust and across Swindon and Wiltshire on behalf of Adviza

WISE Choices was a specialist mental health intervention programme for participants in the BBO UCan project. WISE Choices influenced a higher level of cognitive functioning to strengthen participants’ capability, opportunities, and service engagement. WISE Choices used proven pioneering strategies delivered alongside behavioural training-based interventions to help participants improve cognitive functioning to help prepare participants for work.

WISE Ability’s HMPPS CFO3 moved offenders in custody and the community closer to and into the labour market through mentoring, vocational skills training, and the development of positive relationships and employability skills. It supported offenders having difficulty accessing mainstream services, and each participant’s support package was tailored to their needs. WISE Ability worked collaboratively with other complementary services to ensure participants’ essential needs were met; they were referred to educational courses, accredited and non-accredited training, and voluntary employment, self-employment, work experience and job placements were facilitated. WISE Ability was subcontracted to deliver HMPPS CF03 across Yorkshire and Humberside on behalf of APM.

WISE Ability’s SSW increased the skills of employed people to encourage progression in employment, particularly in small and medium-sized businesses and micro businesses. WISE Ability delivered multiple SSW sub-contracts in West Midlands, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and the Humber region, South West England, and West of England on behalf of Serco and The Growth Company. SSW enhanced participants’ employability with generic and vocational skills and qualifications in collaboration with employers in an era of emerging skills needs. It offered fully-funded training with capabilities and work-based learning addressing employment and skills-related issues aligned to Local Enterprise Partnerships and local employers’ priorities. WISE Ability engaged and supported participants with training support needs, including people with disability, those over 50, ethnic minorities, women, lone parents, low-paid and part-time workers and workers with less than level 1 and 2 qualifications.

The Work Programme was a significant employment programme commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. All forms of personalised one-on-one assistance through this programme focused on addressing barriers to ensure our customers secured sustainable employment. As mentioned earlier, most of our customers present with a blend of complex vocational and non-vocational barriers that impact their employability and other life domains. Our customers benefited from targeted and personalised support while leveraging support from our partners to address some of the most complex barriers to employment and wellbeing (e.g. emergency food, emergency housing accommodation, addiction treatment, legal and advocacy, medical and health services). Crucially, thousands of customers were assisted into sustainable employment through the Work Programme. Many also gained life skills, decreasing and removing key barriers that may have prevented them from becoming employed and progressing towards self-sufficiency. WISE Ability was a high-performing subcontractor to Rehab JobFit and Learn Direct for the Work Programme across the North West and SERCO and G4S in communities across West of England.

WISE Ability’s ESF Families programme supported disadvantaged families with multiple challenges to employment, such as inter-generational unemployment and lack of qualifications, low confidence, the stigma associated with disability, issues with childcare, housing issues, legal matters, extreme debt and attitudinal barriers towards work. WISE Ability engaged over 1,000 customers in the programme. It was among the highest performing companies in the UK in terms of assisting customers in obtaining accredited qualifications and increasing their employability and personal skills, which are critical outcomes for ESF Families. WISE Ability’s ESF Families programme operated in Rotherham and Barnsley in South Yorkshire, Grimsby and Scunthorpe in North East and North Lincolnshire, and Wigan in the North West and is part of Serco and People Plus’s ESF Families programme supply chain.

WISE Ability delivered the Work Choice Specialist Disability Employment Programme in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. WISE Ability Work Choice assisted people with significant health conditions and those impacted by diagnosed or undiagnosed disabilities. It’s Ability, not a disability, that counts. Therefore, our staff followed a strengths-based approach, emphasising the power of having a disability or long-term health issue, which can result in developing essential life skills. For example, customers can challenge imposed limitations, persevere, adapt, and thrive in various situations, including employment. WISE Ability Work Choice helped people achieve their career goals of safe, sustainable employment and self-sufficiency.

Flexible New Deal (FND) was one of the first ‘Work First’ employment-related services for long-term unemployed job seekers contracted out to a range of private and voluntary organisations and Local Authorities in the UK under a ‘prime provider’ outcomes-based payment delivery model. WISE Ability service delivery used tailor-made solutions and flexible support that fully integrated with existing specialist services (e.g., mental health, alcohol or drug counselling, housing). We worked with each participant individually to identify what they specifically needed to move into employment, helping individuals break down barriers and acquire skills – including qualifications. WISE Ability focused on matching the right participant to the right job and provided adequate in-work support to ensure participants remained employed.

CDG-WISE Ability was one of the UK’s leading Work Choice providers. CDG-WISE Ability managed and delivered a prime Work Choice contract in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Work Choice supported a diverse range of people with severe barriers to employment.