We’re helping people with mental health conditions in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight find and keep jobs with our new support programme, ‘IPS Together’.
IPS Together, which launched on 1 July 2025, is a free and voluntary service to support people with severe and enduring mental health conditions to return to or stay in work. The service provides work and health support:
- Helping people get and keep good quality jobs
- Providing careers advice and benefits information
- Working as part of community mental health teams
- Acting as a link between mental health teams and employers.
To find out how you can get support from IPS Together, please visit: https://shawtrust.org.uk/ips-together. We’ve joined forces with NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board to provide this free and voluntary service to local people. 24% of the population of both Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are not in work or looking for work, mostly due to long term sickness and mental health problems.
What’s the IPS model?
IPS is a form of tailored employment support that links work and health, helping people with health problems return to or stay in work and improve their wellbeing. As the largest provider of IPS services in the UK outside the NHS, we have recently published our IPS Report. Some key takeaways from the report are:
- Work is good for health and wellbeing – 73% of those who found work showed an improvement in their wellbeing
- IPS helps people gain and stay in work – 68% of people stayed in work for at least 26 weeks.
- Early help is most effective – 62% of people who are referred whilst still employed are able to stay in work.
- IPS saves taxpayer money – with a return on investment of £2.43 of benefits for every £1 spent on an individual receiving IPS support.
Shelley Southon, Chief Operating Officer at Shaw Trust said “I cannot understate the power of IPS to completely transform a person’s life. It does this by supporting their health and employment needs at the same time. And it works! We’ve supported more than 19,000 people with IPS services, and our data is clear that those who find work are more likely to show an improvement in their wellbeing.”
