Supported Employment and IPS Services in Scotland: Estimated Demand 2024
There are an estimated 33,877 people in Scotland who could benefit from Supported Employment and 18,127 people who could benefit from IPS.
However, if Supported Employment services were to include people with sensory loss, there could be an additional estimated 161,190 people who could benefit. If services were also to include people with a physical disability, there could be a further potential 147,680 people who could benefit from Supported Employment.
In total, there are an estimated 360,874 people who could benefit from Supported Employment and IPS in Scotland
The Details:
Individual Placement and Support (IPS)
An independent review of IPS was commissioned by the Scottish Government, undertaken by Social Finance and published in January 2023. The service is currently designed to support people with severe mental illness that are engaging with CMHT. In Scotland it is estimated this number is 60,424. The report estimates that 30% are interested in finding work and would be eligible for IPS, which is 18,127 people.
However, if the service was open to others with mild to moderate mental health or drug and alcohol recovery, then this figure would be much wider (SAMH).
Supported Employment
There are known to be 23,584 adults in Scotland with learning disabilities (Learning Disability Statistics Scotland 2019). The learning disability employment rate is around 4% (Fraser of Allander Institute 2023), meaning there are 22,628 economically inactive adults. A Mencap study showed that 70% would like to be in employment, therefore the potential number of working age adults with learning disabilities who could be supported by Supported Employment is 15,839.
However, this figure is likely to be a huge underestimate due to the lack of accurate data. The figures above only include those people who are known to services, predominately Health and Social Care.
Using population averages, we estimate that there are 120,000 people in Scotland who have a learning disability and a further 40,000 who are both autistic and have a learning disability. The vast majority of whom receive no support service (SCLD).
There are 37,751 ASD adults in Scotland (Scottish Government publication 2018) with some cross-over with learning disabilities. The figure without learning disabilities is 25,406. There is a 29% employment rate (Office of National Statistics 2023), therefore there are an estimated 18,038 people who could be supported by Supported Employment.
Although Supported Employment predominately supports people with learning disabilities, neurodivergent people or those with an ASD, others could benefit from the service, such as people with sensory loss or physical disabilities.
SUSE along with members and The University of Strathclyde are conducting research into the service provision for supporting people with sight loss or hearing loss into employment. What we currently know is that specialist services have significantly decreased across Scotland.
There are an estimated 183,000 people with sight loss in Scotland (Sight Scotland) and approximately 40% are working age (RNIB 2020). The employment rate is approximately 27% (Slade (2019) Labour Force Survey 2018), therefore this means that there are an estimated 73,200 working age people who could be supported by Supported Employment. The figures are expected to double by 2050 (ONS Principle Projections 2015).
Of the estimated 251,400 working age people in Scotland who have hearing loss (See Hear Report 2014), 65% (UK average) are in employment. Therefore, there are a potential 87,990 working age people with hearing loss who could be supported by Supported Employment.
If services were also to include people with a physical disability, there could be a further potential 147,680 people who could benefit from Supported Employment. The Scotland Census 2011 reports there are 355,000 people with a physical disability and an average employment rate of 58.3% (Annual Population Survey 2022).
Note:
To the best of our knowledge, the figures provided here are based on the latest available data. We understand that some of this data is from earlier than 2019 and is therefore an estimate. If there are more up-to-date and relevant reports, we would be happy to discuss the figures further. It is also important to note that these figures only include people who are known to HSCP services and are likely to be a huge underestimate. Often Supported Employment services work with people who are not being supported by, for example, social work. The figures for IPS are based on people who are engaging with CMHT.
