IPS Grow

IPS Grow is the national programme that we set up in 2019 to expand Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services across England. IPS Grow’s core mission is to help people into high-quality work, not by delivering Individual Placement and Support (IPS) directly, but by acting as a central support service for more than 200 organisations that do.

Published:1 June 2026

Updated:11 June 2026

Expanding IPS has been a priority for Social Finance for more than a decade. In 2015 we set up the Mental Health Employment Partnership (MHEP) and launched the first Social Outcomes Partnerships designed to test the IPS model of employment support for people living with severe mental illness, learning disabilities and substance misuse.

Building on what we learned from MHEP, we created IPS Grow in 2019 to drive the rollout of IPS in NHS mental health services across England, with the ambition of helping the IPS model to scale nationally.

Find out more on the IPS Grow website

Scaling IPS Services

Led by Social Finance and delivered in partnership with NHS England, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), IPS Grow supports the system to scale a proven employment model that improves health and reduces economic inactivity.

In 2019, the IPS Grow team was commissioned by NHS England to support existing IPS services in mental health units and to help set up new ones – this core contract has been extended to March 2029.

IPS Grow also underpins IPS expansion in drug and alcohol services through the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

Today we work with more than 200 IPS services across England to deliver high-quality employment support for people living with severe mental illness, substance use issues and other health needs.

65%

Growth in people supported by IPS services within 3 years – from 27,490 in April 2023 to 45,330 in August 2025

97%

of drug & alcohol services now provide IPS-model employment support

52%

of people supported through IPS gain permanent employment within 18 months – more than double the rate of other employment programmes

92%

of respondents say that performance monitoring and evaluation is critical to achieving good outcomes

In August 2025, Social Finance was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to support the successful delivery of Connect to Work. Until March 2030 the IPS Grow team will conduct annual fidelity reviews* across all Connect to Work Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services in England and Wales.

What is Individual Placement and Support (IPS)?

IPS is an evidence-based employment support approach originally developed in the United States for people experiencing mental health and addiction issues.

It offers intensive individually tailored support to help people to choose and find the right job, with ongoing support for the employer and employee to help ensure the person keeps their job.

Evidence shows that IPS can have a life-changing impact for people, families and communities when it is delivered well.

I was over the moon about getting this job — getting back to work was so important for my recovery and my mental stability. Working in a library has been my dream and I am so happy this was recognised by my IPS worker and she made this happen.

Service user supported by an NHS IPS Employment Specialist, Oxford Health IPS Employment & Job Retention Service

How does IPS Grow support IPS services?

Our support for IPS providers, health services, NHS Trusts and commissioners includes:

Implementation support, which often involves organisational and culture change.
A range of training, including free e‑learning courses.
Quality assurance fidelity reviews, helping services understand what they are doing well, and how they can continue to improve their performance and job outcomes through robust Fidelity Action Plans and good team leadership.
Communities of practice networks – bringing IPS providers together so we can all learn together about how to make IPS work on the ground and achieve good quality outcomes for the people we serve.
Technical IPS on-site support – helping providers to implement IPS practice on the ground. This might include effective integration into clinical teams, building senior buy in and improving employer engagement.
Workforce strategies to support the expanding workforce as IPS develops nationally.

We also aim to bring together a range of national stakeholders to support the development and expansion of IPS across England through the England IPS Expert Forum.

IPS has been shown to be more effective the more closely it follows these eight principles:

It aims to get people into competitive employment – volunteering or sheltered work are not counted as outcomes.
It is open to all those who want to work – with no exclusions based on diagnosis, health condition or benefits claim.
It tries to find jobs consistent with people’s preferences.
It works quickly – job search starts within four weeks, even if a client has been off work for years.
It brings employment specialists into clinical teams – so that employment becomes a core part of mental health treatment and recovery.
Employment specialists develop relationships with employers based on a person’s work preferences – not based on who happens to have jobs.
It provides ongoing, individualised support for the person and their employer – helping people to keep their jobs at difficult times.
Benefits counselling is included – so no one is made worse off by participating.

Fidelity can be explained as the degree to which the detail and quality of an original model (IPS in this case) are successfully copied or replicated.

The IPS fidelity scale defines the critical ingredients of IPS and measures their implementation to differentiate between programmes that have fully implemented the model and those that have not.

The levels of IPS fidelity are: