Supported internships
Supported internships are structured study programmes based primarily at an employer.
They are designed to enable young people with SEND to achieve sustainable, paid employment by equipping them with the skills that they need for work, through learning in the workplace.
Internships normally last for a year and include unpaid work placements of at least six months. Wherever possible, they support the young person to move into paid employment at the end of the programme.
Why supported internships?
Supported internships are an effective route to progress towards paid employment for many young people with education, health and care plans or equivalent.
Who are they for?
Supported internships are for young people aged 16-24 with an education, health and care plan who want to move into employment and need extra support to do so.
Any institution that receives a funding allocation directly from the Education Funding Agency can deliver supported internships.
This includes further education colleges, schools and independent specialist providers.
What’s happening in Lambeth?
Lambeth special schools with post-16 provision, Lambeth College and Roots and Shoots are working together, supported by the British Association for supported employment, to ensure that a range of supported internships in a range of areas, industries and businesses, will be available for young people who want to work.
In 2017-18, the first pilot group of young people started supported internships. The aim was to offer internships to all young people who wished to take this route into employment in the following years.