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Supported internships for learners with an education, health and care plan

Supported internships are available to young people, aged 16 to 24, with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and who have an education health and care (EHC) plan. 

With support from a qualified job coach, supported internships help young people to secure and sustain employment. 

Interns are enrolled and supported by a learning provider but spend around 70% of their time learning in the workplace. They complete a personalised study programme with their school or college, which includes the chance to study for relevant qualifications, such as English and maths.

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Contents

Benefits for your business

By offering work placements for supported internships, you can: 

  • shape a job role for the needs of your business and the supported intern 
  • save on recruitment costs and improve recruitment prospects if you hire the intern at the end of the programme 
  • increase your confidence of employing individuals with additional needs 

Cost

You do not need to pay to host a work placement for an intern. You may have other business costs, such as time spent planning, training and supervising. You can also choose to pay the intern. 

Your responsibilities

If you host a work placement, you must: 

  • work collaboratively with the job coach to support the young person 
  • provide a safe work environment  
  • make workplace adjustments needed by the supported intern 
  • provide a line manager to support, supervise and mentor the student 
  • give an induction explaining relevant policies and procedures 

You should be committed to supporting the young person towards paid employment.  

If you have a suitable vacancy, you can offer them a job. If this is not possible, you should help them gain employment elsewhere.  

You will not be penalised if an intern completes their supported internship earlier than planned because they have entered paid employment. 

Case studies

Find out how other businesses are using Supported Internships:

Liverpool University Hospital Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

Liverpool University Hospital Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital provide healthcare and healthcare training to the North West of England. They have been running supported internships since 2019 and have enrolled 12 young people with SEND onto the programme this year.

"We wanted to get a much richer understanding of young people with SEND so that we could design our services in different ways, to understand their needs better and get under the skin of the issues facing these young people."

"We also believed that it would be empowering for our staff to work closely with, and learn more about, individuals with SEND."

"As one of the biggest employers in the local area, we’re facing all sorts of challenges with employment and retention, and supported internships meant that we could give our local young people the opportunities that they deserved. For us, it became a mission to do something meaningful."

"These young people have a genuine desire to work, so why would you not want to support them to do that? The benefits from offering supported internships are staggering. There’s no reason why the supported interns that we have at the moment, can’t rise to the top of our organisation."

"As a business, you only need to invest a very small amount into young people and what you get in return can be massive. We’re talking about loyalty, determination and dedication to a role that is sometimes lacking elsewhere. You don’t have to start big; you could hire one, maybe two people and then grow from there."

The Sovini Group

The Sovini Group are a collection of companies that provide homes for the public in the North West of England.

In 2023, they made the decision to join the supported internship programme with the aim of helping local young people with SEND secure employment opportunities.

"We have always supported a number of activities for young people in the local area, like work experience and career fairs, and we were really keen on supporting young people with SEND. We wanted to break down some of the barriers to employment that these young people face."

"We had an open mind in terms of expectations. We have been blown away by how well our supported intern, Ryan, has adapted and what he brings to the team. Ryan was given a special recognition award at our recent Apprenticeship Awards event for his passion and positive attitude."

"We would 100% encourage other businesses to join the supported internship programme. It has made such a big difference to our business and has helped foster equality and diversity in our workplace."

Find out more

To find out more about providing supported internships:

To get the contact information for your local SEND employment forum, contact the Internships Work lead for your region.

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Other resources

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