Test it, prove it, scale it. That's what with did with IPS Grow.
Life-changing impact
In less than three years, the number of people supported through Independent Placement and Support (IPS)* services in England has grown by 65%, from 27,490 in April 2023 to 45,330 in August 2025.
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
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 the organisations that do.
Evidence shows that IPS can have a life-changing impact for people, families and communities when it is delivered well and with fidelity to the model.
Expanding IPS has been a priority for Social Finance since 2015, when we launched the Mental Health Employment Partnership (MHEP) – the world’s first Social Impact Bond focused on IPS for people living with severe mental illness, learning disabilities and substance misuse.
Building on what we learned from MHEP, in 2019 we created IPS Grow, initially to drive the rollout of IPS in NHS mental health services across England, but with a bigger ambition to help the IPS model scale nationally and in different settings.
How we scaled the IPS model
What really attracted me when Social Finance first approached me to work with them, was they were saying “Hang on, there is no way that we can just provide money and expect these different IPS services across the country to manage on their own.” IPS Grow has an essential role to play in supporting and improving the IPS services that are available.
Dr Rachel Perkins, a former NHS Clinical Psychologist who set up the first IPS service in England. She’s been a member of Social Finance’s Health and Employment Partnership Board since it was first established, and continues to independently research and advise on IPS .
The IPS Grow team was first commissioned by NHS England in 2019 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).
Our work with more than 200 IPS services across England, contributes directly to the government’s commitment to using employment support as a critical tool to tackle health-related economic inactivity, and has been pivotal in increasing access to high-quality employment support for people living with severe mental illness, substance use issues and other health needs.
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 via 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 which 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 via the England IPS Expert Forum.
Watch the video to see the IPS Grow team in action
IPS Grow and Connect to Work
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.
Our partners in this contract, the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE), will be doing the same; reviewing supported employment providers delivering through the Connect to Work programme using their Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF).
*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.
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:
- Exemplary: a practice scoring 115–125 points.
- Good: a practice scoring 100–114 points.
- Fair: a practice scoring 74–99 points.
- Not yet supported employment: a practice scoring 73 points or less.