We’re excited to share our Employment Annual Report 2025–2026, celebrating a landmark year which saw more people supported into employment than ever before.
Across our services, 691 people were supported into employment, which is a 157% increase on the previous year and the highest number of employment outcomes we’ve ever achieved. Our IPS service accounted for 561 of those outcomes, continuing its growth across Greater Manchester through our partnership with The Growth Company and PossAbilities.
There’s lots to celebrate across our other services as well, particularly our Supported Internships, where 93 young people moved into employment and 70% of the jobs secured were permanent. Our Futures supported five people into paid work, with 68% of participants progressing into long-term volunteering, while 60 young people became independent travellers through our Travel Training programme.
Our employer partnerships continue to play a massive part in creating these opportunities, and this year our teams recorded 2,552 employer engagements, connecting with more than 2,000 organisations across Greater Manchester. Those relationships give the people we support access to different workplaces, experiences and ultimately more opportunities to find the right job for them.
We’ve also continued our partnership with Citizens Advice, expanding from one dedicated Benefits Advisor to two during the year. Together they supported 491 people and secured a combined financial gain of £379,747, helping people understand how moving into work could affect their finances and access the support they were entitled to.
One of the figures we’re particularly pleased with is that 99% of people said they would recommend our Employment Services to others, alongside 93% satisfaction with the support provided and 98% satisfaction with communication and responsiveness. As our services continue to grow, knowing that the people accessing them are having a positive experience is really important to us.
It’s been a busy year for new opportunities too, with two Supported Internship programmes launched for young people without an EHCP and a third already confirmed for 2026/27. In June, we also began delivering a new Supported Employment contract in Salford, extending our employment support further across Greater Manchester.
There’s already plenty planned for the year ahead, including the continued development of our Salford service and the launch of our third non-EHCP Supported Internship site. We’ve also secured funding for IPS-Y, which will begin in early 2027 and support young people aged 16–17 who are accessing CAMHS to sustain education, training and employment.
We’re really pleased with everything that’s been achieved over the last 12 months and looking forward to building on it throughout 2026/27!
