Internships Work programme support.

Internships Work is a partnership between National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), DFN Project SEARCH and BASE funded by the Department for Education (DfE) to increase the number of young people with additional needs able to access a supported internship.

Originally funded for three years to March 2025, an extension to the programme has been announced, to cover the 25/26 academic year to allow the partners to continue support local areas to provide these life-changing opportunities.

For the coming year the focus of the 2025/2026 Internships Work programme will be to sustain the progress made in the first three years of investment and to strengthen delivery and BASE/Inclusive Trading CIC will be supporting the following two elements of the programme:

• Delivering 60 Supported Internship Quality Assurance Framework Peer Reviews
• Delivering high-quality fully-funded job coach training to job coaches in certain roles

What is the Supported Internships Quality Assurance Framework?

The Supported Internship Quality Assurance Framework (SIQAF) has been designed to support continuous improvement and ensure high standards across Supported Internships (SI) provision.

Utilising the SIQAF Self-Assessment tool within the framework, providers are encouraged through reflection and self-assessment to evaluate the quality and success of their SI programmes. The SIQAF process acts as a foundation to support effective SI delivery whilst also acting as a catalyst for driving change and improving provision, which leads to the development of action plans.

The SIQAF contains 6 sections, each with differing criteria against which a service is scored. The sections are:

1. Leadership
2. Planning
3. Partnership
4. Preparedness
5. Progress
6. Results

Read more about the SIQAF process in our guide:

SIQAF: How to Guide

As part of the Internships Work programme, organisations who decide to use the SIQAF can sign up for a free peer review to validate their SIQAF self-assessment. This fully-funded review involves two trained peer reviewers (one lead reviewer and another peer reviewer) who will visit your Supported Internship programme over 1.5 days and review your self-assessment score as well as support your continuous improvement efforts with recommended actions and good practice examples.

SIQAF: The Peer Review Process

SIQAF Assessment Tool

We will be hosting regular Lunch and Learn Sessions in the coming months which will be publicised via our website. You can subscribe to our calendar of events to receive notifications when new dates are added. You can also email us with any questions or to book a SIQAF peer review at training@base-uk.org.

Internships Work Funding Job Coach Training

As part of the extended Internships Work investment in training we're aiming to deliver funding training in Supported Employment Techniques and/or Training in Systematic Instruction to 200 Supported Internship Job Coaches.

Supported Employment Techniques

Training offers a comprehensive overview of the supported employment process and is based on the knowledge requirements in the National Occupational Standards for Supported Employment. This will include how to effectively vocationally profile Interns, engage employers, completion of job analysis, risk assessment and in-work Job Coaching Techniques. This is delivered over 6 half days online. SET offers a comprehensive overview of the supported employment process. Supported Internships also follow this process.

Training in Systematic Instruction (TSI) Training

TSI is a specific methodology which allows practitioners to train interns in workplace tasks. TSI has been proven effective in training people with a range of barriers and challenges to independently complete workplace tasks of varying complexity. The delivery of this training varies by provider and may be online or face to face. In all cases the delegate/learner must provide a consultant learner which is an intern who is willing to be trained in a task using TSI as part of the training programme.

To find if you're eligible for this funded training, visit the Job Coach training page and read more about who can apply for the courses.

Further Resources

Supported Internships Guidance

Internships Work: All Resources