Getting A Life - summary of the programme
The Getting a Life programme ran from April 2008 to the end of March 2011, as part of the Valuing People Now employment work.
A clear path to paid employment
The programme was built around the idea that paid employment is the outcome that matters most, because a real job helps people to be included and to lead a healthy, positive life. A clear path means that each step, from preparing for work to finding a role and keeping it, is visible to the young person, their family and the professionals who support them.
Across the three themes below, the programme’s work shows what a clear path looks like in practice. Each theme connects to the wider ambition of full lives after education.
Raising aspirations
Setting paid work as the expected goal for young people with a severe learning disability.
Changing the system
Identifying where education and services need to work together so that employment is planned early.
A path to a real job
Connecting preparation, placement and support so that paid work can be found and kept.
Paid work, full lives and a clearer path after education are still the aims behind this work. Explore the areas taking part.
Jobs First and Project Search
This project works with 7 demonstration areas (some of which are the same as GAL), to prioritise paid employment for the people taking part. Having a real job helps people to be included and lead a healthy, positive life. More >>
As part of Valuing Employment Now, 14 local partnership sites have been selected to run Project Search – a model which helps disabled people secure and keep paid permanent jobs. More >>
Getting A Life - summary of the programme
Getting A Life Area's throughout the country.
For more information about the areas involved and the work going on in the various areas please visit the areas page >>
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website © Getting A Life 2011 by enabledlondon.com
It was set up to show what needs to happen so that young people with a severe learning disability achieve paid employment and full lives when they leave education.
The central programme team has now disbanded, but the people who have been involved in the local projects are continuing their work with later life choices to improve both over 50's retirement, equity release & funerals, as well as opportunities.
Questions about the programme
The programme ran from April 2008 to the end of March 2011, as part of the Valuing People Now employment work.
It was designed for young people with a severe learning disability, so that they can achieve paid employment and full lives when they leave education.
Changing the system around young people
A central aim of the programme was to show that the system itself needs to change. Young people with a severe learning disability often move through education with plans that do not lead to work. The programme set out to identify where those plans break down, and what needs to be altered so that employment is part of the plan from the start rather than added at the end.
The lessons drawn from the local areas point to joined-up working between education, employment support and adult services. When these services share the same goal, a young person is less likely to fall between them. The timeline page sets out how the programme moved through its years, and the resources page gathers the materials produced along the way.
Raising aspirations across the country
The programme began from a simple question: what has to change so that a young person with a severe learning disability can expect a real job when they leave education? Its answer started with expectations. Families, teachers and services were encouraged to see paid employment as a realistic goal rather than an distant hope, and to plan for it from the earliest years of transition.
Raising aspirations meant more than encouragement. It meant building the practical steps that make a goal possible, such as work experience, support on the job and clear routes from school or college into employment. The local projects tested these steps in different places, and their findings are part of what the programme leaves behind. You can read more about the wider context on the about page.
Where the work continues
The central programme team has now disbanded, but the work has not stopped. People who were involved in the local projects are carrying the learning forward into later life choices. Their focus includes retirement for people over 50, equity release and funerals, as well as the wider opportunities that a full life can bring at every age.
This continuity matters because the questions do not end when school or college does. Planning for work, for housing and for the years beyond paid employment all draw on the same principle: people with learning disabilities should be able to make real choices. For news and updates from the wider community, visit the Blog.