About

Sixteen is a co-operative social enterprise set up in 2011 to bring evidence based supported employment services to people with a learning disability interested in finding paid employment.

Our aim is to create a sustainable financial model that delivers high quality job coaching and supports the majority of people into paid employment of over 16 hours.

The organisation employs a number of full time, part time, seconded and self employed job coaches led by practitioners with significant experience in the field.

Programmes are running in the Bristol and South Glos areas although Sixteen is looking to support Job Coaching in other areas.

Funding

Sixteen delivers services to a number of different organisations, local authorities and colleges as well as individuals.  We also run some funded projects.

Local Authorities can offer an initial investment to develop the core service allowing Sixteen to then draw funding from elsewhere.  This can offer a very good return on investment.  Research shows that investing in supported employment can save money in the long run.

Individual and families paying for their own support generally only need to pay for vocational profiling and job search.  Once someone has secured a job, Sixteen can often fund the in work support element.

We also work with other providers who offer Job Centre programmes such as Work Choice offering specialist support to their job seekers where necessary.

Training

We understand good practice job coaches and seek to use evidence based approaches to support people so training is a key part of the development of our job coaches.

All Job Coaches receive a comprehensive induction programme that includes
  • An overview of the Supported Employment Process
  • The requirements and role of the Job Coach and
  • Marketing for Job (Employer Engagement)
This is delivered through a blend of internal and external training provision and involves accessing training provision under the South West Employment Initiative (SWEi) and British Association of Supported Employment (BASE)

Ongoing training then responds to the specific needs of the coaches over time.  All senior job have attended Training in Systematic Instruction (TSI) courses and we aim to train all other job coaches in TSI within their first two years of working.

Replication

Sixteen is developing a replication package for local authorities, collages, family groups or other providers.  If you would be interested in working with us in your locality please contact us for an initial ​discussion.

Sixteen is a member of Mutually Inclusive Partnerships