We are pleased to confirm the extension of our IPS Grow contract. Established in 2019 and led by Social Finance in partnership with Centre for Mental Health. The project is funded by NHS England & Improvement and DWP and backed by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.  Our mission is to support the national expansion of the evidenced based individual placement and support (IPS) employment approach across England in mental health, community drug and alcohol services and health led trials.

The NHS Long Term Plan is committed to supporting 55,000 people with severe mental illness to gain and retain employment by 2023/24. In addition to this, the 2021 Drug Strategy commits to expanding IPS to community substance use services in all English local authorities by 2024-25.

To meet these ambitions the IPS Grow team will be expanding to include two Regional Managers – based in the South of England and East/Midlands, and an additional 6 new IPS lead posts will be recruited to be based across the country. The team will continue to work across health systems, supporting IPS services and their host services to implement evidence-based employment practice to increase access to paid employment for people accessing mental health and addictions services. This is achieved via quality assurance fidelity reviews, technical support and learning networks. In addition, IPS Grow has recently appointed an Operations Manager and a Data Manager and will be recruiting for a Business Manager and Project Support post over the coming months.

Effective implementation of IPS often requires organisational change, and the integration of IPS teams with wider health systems. We look forward to continuing to work closely with all our stakeholders towards these ambitions, supporting the mobilisation and delivery of evidence-based employment services, helping more people with health conditions into sustainable employment.

We will be sharing more details on our updated offer shortly. If you have any queries regarding IPS or this expansion in the meantime, please contact support@ipsgrow.org.uk