Cupp supported an evaluation of the Summer Jobs Project to assess how effective the project hae been in meeting the training and employment support needs of people with learning disabilities and their families/carers. Project Outline

Over the summer of 2004 Breakaway ran a Summer Jobs Project with Iceland supermarket in Worthing. The project gave 12 candidates with higher support needs an opportunity to work in a commercial setting. This project was different in that it was a pilot aimed at widening the range of people using the service by increasing the level of support available. The extra support comprised longer-term on-site job-coaching and transport to and from work. This enabled the service to use a ‘fast-track’ approach which gave candidates with higher support needs the opportunity to have a fair chance to prove their abilities in a real workplace.

Cupp supported an evaluation of the Summer Jobs Project to assess how effective the project had been in meeting the training and employment support needs of people with learning disabilities and their families/carers. The evaluation also assessed the impact of the project on participants, referral agencies and local employers to help identify any improvements which occurred either practically or in terms of agency/employer attitudes as a direct result of the project. Project partners

Breakaway Supported Employment Service

Breakaway Supported Employment Service is part of the South Downs Housing Trust and is part funded by West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and by The Employment Service through New Deal for Disabled People. The main aim of Breakaway is to support and enable ‘learning’ disabled people to access local employment opportunities.

Former HSPRC - now SSPARC at the University of Brighton

In order to reflect the breadth of the centre's research interests they changed the name from Health and Social Policy Research Centre (HSPRC) to the Social Science Policy and Research Centre: SSPARC.The SSPARC research still includes health and social policy but now also encompasses criminology, sociology, psychology, psychosocial studies, public policy and politics. The centre runs professional courses in social work, counselling and psychotherapy, and applied interests in other areas of social practice such as work with substance misusers and community development.