IPS CAREERS
Careers in Individual Placement and Support (IPS)
Understand the Individual Placement and Support model, its core principles, fidelity and the growing role of IPS across UK employment and health services.
What is Individual Placement and Support (IPS)?
Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based approach to employment support that helps people find and sustain competitive paid employment. It was originally developed for people experiencing severe mental illness and has since been applied in other health and support settings.
Rather than requiring someone to become “job ready” before beginning their search, IPS focuses on finding employment that reflects the individual's preferences, strengths and goals, and then providing personalised support to help them succeed in work.
A defining feature of IPS is the integration of employment and health support. Employment Specialists work alongside health professionals so that employment can form part of an individual's wider treatment or recovery journey rather than being treated as a separate intervention.
How IPS Works
IPS follows a “place, then train” approach. The emphasis is on beginning the search for competitive employment quickly and providing support around the individual before and after they enter work.
An Employment Specialist works with the individual to understand their interests, experience, strengths and employment preferences. They then support job searching and applications while developing relationships with employers that reflect those preferences.
Support does not end when somebody starts a job. IPS includes ongoing, individualised in-work support and can involve working with both the employee and employer, where appropriate, to help employment remain sustainable.
For professionals coming from mainstream employability services, this can require a different mindset: employment is pursued early rather than being viewed as the final stage after a long sequence of pre-employment interventions.
The Eight Principles of IPS
IPS delivery is built around eight evidence-based principles. Understanding them is fundamental for anyone considering an IPS career because they influence everyday practice as well as how the quality of an IPS service is assessed.
Competitive employment — The objective is ordinary paid employment available within the open labour market.
Zero exclusion — People who want to work should be able to access employment support without being screened out because of diagnosis, health condition or benefits status.
Client preferences — Job searching should reflect the individual's interests, strengths and employment preferences rather than simply directing them towards available vacancies.
Rapid job search — The search for employment begins quickly rather than following lengthy periods of preparation before approaching employers.
Integration with health teams — Employment Specialists work closely with health professionals so employment support forms part of the wider support provided to the individual.
Targeted employer engagement — Relationships with employers are developed around the employment preferences and needs of the people being supported.
Individualised, ongoing support — Support continues after somebody enters work and is tailored to the needs of the employee and, where appropriate, the employer.
Benefits counselling — Individuals are supported to understand the financial implications of moving into employment so they can make informed decisions.
These principles distinguish IPS from many traditional employment-support models and are central to maintaining fidelity to the approach.
IPS Fidelity
Fidelity describes how closely a service is delivering the established IPS model.
IPS services can be assessed using a 25-item fidelity scale covering areas such as staffing, organisation and service delivery. Reviews consider evidence about how the service operates in practice, including interviews and observations of employer-engagement activity.
For somebody working within IPS, fidelity is therefore much more than a quality-assurance exercise. It influences everyday practice: how quickly job search begins, how Employment Specialists work with health teams, how employers are engaged and how support is provided after somebody enters employment.
Higher-fidelity IPS services tend to achieve better employment outcomes, which is why maintaining the model and preventing “fidelity drift” are important parts of IPS leadership and service improvement.
For Employment Specialists and Team Leaders in particular, understanding fidelity is an important part of professional development within the sector.
Integration of Employment and Health Support
One of the biggest differences between IPS and conventional employability provision is the relationship between employment and health support.
Employment Specialists are integrated with health or treatment teams and work collaboratively with other professionals supporting the individual. This allows employment goals to be considered alongside wider health, treatment and recovery plans.
For an Employment Specialist, this means the role is highly collaborative. You may work alongside clinicians and other health professionals while also building relationships with employers and supporting your own caseload.
Strong communication, professional credibility and the ability to work effectively across different organisations and disciplines are therefore particularly valuable skills within IPS.
This integrated approach reflects a central idea behind the model: for somebody who wants to work, appropriate employment can form part of their recovery rather than something that must wait until recovery is complete.
IPS in Practice
Working in IPS combines individualised participant support, employer engagement and partnership working.
An Employment Specialist may spend part of their week meeting individuals and understanding their employment goals, another part approaching employers and developing opportunities, and another working with colleagues in health services.
Once someone secures employment, the focus can move towards helping them sustain it. This might include discussing workplace challenges, considering reasonable adjustments, supporting communication with an employer where appropriate, or helping the individual manage difficulties that could otherwise put their employment at risk.
The role therefore requires considerably more than matching CVs to vacancies. Successful IPS practitioners need to understand people, employment and employers while remaining focused on the individual's preferences.
It can also be an autonomous role. Employment Specialists typically manage their own caseload while receiving supervision, case reviews, coaching and support from an IPS Team Leader.
The Growth of IPS in the UK
IPS has become an increasingly significant part of the UK's employment and health landscape.
The model has established evidence supporting its effectiveness for people experiencing severe mental illness, and its application has expanded into areas including drug and alcohol treatment and other health-related employment support.
Government policy continues to support expansion. Current health policy in England includes continued expansion of IPS provision for people with severe mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction, alongside wider moves towards integrating employment support with health services.
For the employability workforce, this creates opportunities for professionals who can combine strong employment-support skills with person-centred practice, employer engagement and effective partnership working with health services.
It also means IPS experience is becoming an increasingly valuable specialism within the wider employment-support sector.
IPS and the Changing Employability Landscape
The boundary between employment support and health support is becoming increasingly connected.
Across the UK employment landscape there is growing emphasis on helping people who are economically inactive because of health conditions or other complex barriers to enter and remain in employment. Government policy has also placed greater emphasis on locally integrated work, health and skills support.
IPS provides an established model for this type of integrated delivery: personalised employment support, close partnership with health services, rapid movement towards work and continued support once employment has been secured.
For professionals already working in employability, this creates an opportunity to develop expertise beyond traditional employment programmes.
Experience in areas such as caseload management, employer engagement, coaching, performance management and partnership working can all provide a strong foundation — but successful IPS practice also requires commitment to the principles and fidelity of the model.
Working in IPS
IPS offers career opportunities for people from a variety of professional backgrounds.
A typical route into the sector is through an IPS Employment Specialist role. Employment Specialists manage a caseload, develop individual employment plans, engage employers, work alongside health professionals and provide support once somebody enters work.
Progression can lead to roles such as Senior Employment Specialist, IPS Team Leader, Service Manager or Operational/Programme Manager, depending on the structure of the organisation delivering the service.
Previous clinical experience is not necessarily required to become an Employment Specialist. IPS Grow notes that qualities such as belief in people's ability to work, relationship-building and a desire to make a difference can be particularly important, with training and ongoing supervision supporting practitioners to develop their IPS knowledge.
Useful transferable experience can include:
Employment advice and employability delivery
Employer engagement or recruitment
Coaching and caseload management
Mental health or health-related services
Supported employment
Community or voluntary-sector services
Partnership and stakeholder working
For managers moving into IPS, understanding fidelity, coaching practice, caseload quality, employer engagement and integration with clinical teams becomes especially important.
Developing Your IPS Knowledge
You do not need to wait until you secure an IPS role to begin understanding the model.
A strong starting point is learning the eight IPS principles and understanding why fidelity matters. IPS Grow also provides specialist resources and a free seven-week IPS e-learning course covering the IPS model, the Employment Specialist role, integration with clinical teams, client relationships, employer engagement, job matching, sustaining employment and fidelity.
If you are preparing to apply for an IPS position, focus particularly on being able to explain:
the eight IPS principles; the meaning of zero exclusion; rapid job search; competitive employment; personalised job matching; employer engagement; integration with health teams; ongoing in-work support; and the importance of fidelity.
Just as importantly, consider how your existing experience transfers into IPS. Examples involving person-centred coaching, employer relationships, partnership working, managing complex caseloads or helping people overcome barriers to employment can provide valuable evidence when applying for IPS roles.
Understanding the philosophy behind IPS — supporting people who want to work to pursue meaningful paid employment as part of their wider recovery and aspirations — is ultimately as important as learning the terminology.
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