Tackling economic inactivity – scaling what works to change the system
People with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and autism have the lowest employment rates in the UK, with those experiencing mental illness almost 30 percent less likely to be in work than the general population. Yet research shows that 30 to 50 per cent are capable of working — and that meaningful employment can be transformative; improving mental health, building confidence, reducing reliance on clinical services and creating financial independence.
When Social Finance turned its attention to this challenge over a decade ago, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) was a well-evidenced model of employment support, but it had yet to scale in the UK. We wanted to explore how social investment and outcomes-based approaches could help change that.
When I got my first pay, I remember I screamed the house down and to my brothers and sisters I said, “Guess who got paid!” My parents are really happy. They are proud of me and they go, “Yeah, yeah you have achieved a lot.
Sabiha Malik, Hospitality worker, supported into work by an IPS service in Tower Hamlets, The Tower Project
Building evidence of what works
In 2015, Social Finance set up the Mental Health Employment Partnership (MHEP) — a special purpose vehicle designed to replicate and expand IPS across local areas.
Through a series of Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOPs), MHEP used outcomes-based payment and learning mechanisms to fund and support IPS services, acting as a co-commissioner alongside local authorities, NHS commissioners and providers across London and Shropshire.
Over nine years, MHEP brought together 25 local authorities and NHS trusts, enabling nine providers to deliver employment support for people experiencing severe mental illness. In time these services expanded to support people with learning disabilities and autism, as well as those experiencing addiction, to find and sustain meaningful employment.
Together, this work supported more than 2,000 people into jobs, with the majority securing sustained employment.
- The learning disability cohort (119 people) had the highest rate of sustainment with 77% staying in employment for 3 months or more.
- Those with severe mental illness (1651 people) also had a high rate of sustainment with 74% keeping their jobs for at least 3 months.
- The addiction and substance misuse cohort (276 people) had the lowest rate of sustainment with only 47% staying in work for more than 3 months
It’s important to note that although this gives us an interesting insight into the different work challenges that might be faced by the different cohorts, providers reported that they sometimes had difficulty gathering evidence from people after they started working, so the figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true number supported.
Taking what works to scale
MHEP IPS services have radically changed beneficiaries’ lives, with many of those supported into work otherwise risking long-term unemployment. People like Sabiha Malik who appears in a video further down this page.
But the real impact goes beyond these headline outcomes.
MHEP showed that scaling IPS is not just about funding services — it is about how those services are supported, managed and continuously improved, and how systems themselves are shaped around what works.
Building on learnings from MHEP, Social Finance created IPS Grow — a national programme set up to expand IPS services across England delivered in partnership with NHS England, the DWP and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).
First commissioned in 2019 to support existing services in NHS mental health units and to help set up new ones, IPS Grow now plays a pivotal role in the delivery of more than 200 IPS services across England.
Independent evaluation
Five of the nine Social Outcomes Partnerships set up through MHEP received top-up outcomes funding from the government’s Life Chances Fund — Tower Hamlets Learning Disabilities, Tower Hamlets Mental Health, Haringey and Barnet, Shropshire and Enfield.
These SOPs were independently evaluated as part of a five-year research study by the Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) which investigated the effectiveness of SOPs as a commissioning tool to improve social outcomes for citizens. GO Lab researchers published a series of three evaluations of MHEP between 2023 and August 2025.
In broad terms and whilst noting limitations of the data, the evaluators found that the MHEP SOPs provided clear additional value compared with traditional commissioning approaches.
Three ways MHEP added value
1. Performance management and data-driven improvement
MHEP’s dedicated performance management function — provided by the Social Finance team — was seen by commissioners and providers to give an additional outcomes-focus, supported by high-quality data and insights to drive service improvement.
The final evaluation found a link between performance incentives and job outcomes — with modelling suggesting that for every £1,000 increase in outcome payments, job starts were 21% more likely and happened 17% faster.
There was a focus on particular data points — first outcomes, engagements and sustainment — and by focusing on those, it helped to monitor where we are and where the focus should be going forward. Having that regular contact and review with MHEP built that robustness into what we were doing.
Matt Morris, Senior IPS Specialist, Enable, Shropshire
2. A new relational approach to commissioning
MHEP took a pioneering collaborative approach that focused on problem-solving and shared learning between providers, ICBs and commissioners.
One commissioner interviewed for the evaluation reflected:
“[MHEP brought] a huge amount of extra intelligence into our system that we just wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Another interviewee commented that MHEP changed the way they commissioned, looked at services, looked at data and worked together on a contract — and that it had been an effective gateway for local authorities to “look at commissioning in a different way.”
We’ve known for many years that IPS programmes can change lives for many different cohorts, but this evaluation shows the important role of the commissioning mechanism – Social Outcome Partnerships (formerly SIBs) – in making the difference.
Madeline Goldie, Associate Director
3. Unlocking additional funding and embedding IPS into local systems.
In most cases, MHEP helped local areas commission an IPS programme for the first time. By unlocking Life Chances Fund top-up funding it brought additional resources to projects that would not otherwise have been available — and built lasting capacity within both provider organisations and commissioning teams.
Since the MHEP contracts wound down, all the MHEP statutory partners have continued to fund IPS services out of their own budgets.
In the video below, Matt Morris, a senior IPS Specialist explains why MHEP and the Social Finance team were essential to the success and sustainability of Enable in Shropshire.
Sabiha Malik (Sabs) – an IPS success story
Sabs was supported into work by JETS Tower Project in Tower Hamlets, London.
Although she struggled at school with her learning difficulties, after receiving personalised one-to-one employment support from the IPS team, Sabs found her niche working in the canteen of a large firm in Canary Wharf in London.
When she first arrived at the Tower Project, an IPS service for people with learning disabilities and autism, Sabs was too shy to even speak, as she explains in this video.
Aiming for impact at scale
At Social Finance we are concerned not just with individual programme-level outcomes, but with the ‘big’ outcomes – more inclusive economies, healthier populations, thriving local places.
For us, MHEP and IPS Grow are part of a wider effort across our Employment and Skills practice to build a more inclusive economy that distributes the many benefits of meaningful, sustained employment more widely, especially to groups at risk of exclusion.