Partnerships & policy work

Policy to action: partnerships that drive system change

BASE connects evidence to action – shaping policy, strengthening practice and building inclusive employment systems that work.

SYSTEM CHANGE

Turning national ambition into practical action.

BASE helps ensure evidence-based Supported Employment is not just referenced in policy, but designed into programmes, quality frameworks and workforce practice.

OUR VISION

BASE bridges frontline practice and national policy.

BASE is the UK’s leading authority on Supported Employment, with formal connections across Europe and the global Supported Employment community.

We represent and protect an internationally evidence-based model that supports disabled people, neurodivergent people and those facing multiple barriers into good, sustainable careers, while helping employers embed inclusion at the heart of workforce planning.

Connecting government, employers, providers and lived experience.

Protecting the Supported Employment model.

Delivery at scale

BASE has worked with Department for Work and Pensions colleagues from early Proof of Concept work through Trailblazer programmes and Connect to Work.

Testing high-fidelity Supported Employment in practice.
Strengthening quality, consistency and workforce capability.
Embedding fidelity and quality assurance from the outset.

Employers in action

BASE supports employers to move beyond commitment statements towards Disability Confident in action.

Shifting from vacancy filling to job design and job matching.
Embedding inclusion into workforce planning.
Making reasonable adjustments practical and systemic.

Cross-government leadership

BASE contributes to DWP collaboration committees focused on Young People and Access to Work, helping align employment, education, health and social care policy.

Working across public, private and third sectors.
Connecting academic partners, researchers and evaluators.
Learning from experts by experience.

Young people and early careers

BASE works closely with the Department for Education to champion Supported Employment provision for young people, including those with SEND and neurodivergent learners.

Leading on quality, workforce development and training in Internships Work.
Championing high-aspiration routes into real jobs with real futures.
Ensuring Supported Employment is recognised as a lifelong model.

Values-led and evidence-based

Supported Employment is both values-driven and pragmatic.

Ethical practice rooted in dignity, aspiration and choice.
Workforce development aligned to National Occupational Standards.
Quality assurance through model fidelity.
Commissioning that recognises the true cost of doing Supported Employment well.

An independent, trusted voice

BASE provides written and oral evidence to Select Committees, submissions and oral evidence to the House of Lords, and ongoing stakeholder engagement.

PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES

Built on shared purpose, humility and learning.

BASE does not duplicate the work of others. We connect expertise across sectors, lean into what others do best, and share our own knowledge to strengthen systems, influence policy and improve outcomes for disabled and neurodivergent people.

Centred on lived experience

BASE works with Parallel and the Purple Socks Day Fund to ensure lived experience is properly valued, supported and paid.

A paid lived experience speaker at every BASE Conference.
A dedicated lived experience role on the BASE Board.
Lived experience embedded in quality, policy, employment and systems change.

Employer partnerships

BASE helps employers translate inclusion commitments into practical job design, recruitment and retention.

Embedding Supported Employment into workforce planning.
Connecting employers with specialist providers.
Championing employers as equal partners in inclusive labour markets.

Cross-sector partnerships that drive change

BASE collaborates across policy, practice, education, employment and research.

Amazon partnership

Our partnership with Amazon brings together employer ambition and Supported Employment expertise to create inclusive pathways at scale.

Values-aligned partnerships

Many of BASE’s most impactful relationships are built on shared values.

Integrity and compassion.
A strengths-based approach.
Quality, evidence and continuous improvement.
Collaboration over competition.

Academia and research

BASE values academic partnership as essential to learning, challenge and credibility. Growing partnerships with the University of Strathclyde and King’s College London support applied research, independent evaluation and stronger links between evidence, policy and practice.

Partnerships & policy work

Technology should strengthen inclusion, not undermine it.

BASE works with Policy Connect to bring Supported Employment expertise into cross-party conversations on the future of work, technology and inclusion.

Alongside this, BASE is working with Microsoft to lead thinking on the ethical use of AI and assistive technology within Supported Employment.

Embedding ethical AI principles into employment support and recruitment systems.
Exploring how assistive technology can remove barriers when designed and used well.
Ensuring technology complements, rather than replaces, human support and relationships.
Supporting employers and providers to adopt innovation responsibly.

International collaboration

BASE partners with ASEE, the Association for Supported Employment Europe, strengthening international collaboration and shared learning.

A BASE staff member contributes operational expertise.
A BASE Board member sits on the ASEE Board.
This keeps the UK Supported Employment voice connected into European learning.

Proud to partner

Partnership is not a bolt-on for BASE. It is how we work.

Through partnerships, BASE joins the dots across employers, providers, commissioners, academics, policymakers and people with lived experience.

Let's build a partnership for impact.

BASE is always looking for the right partners: organisations that lead with values, work from a strengths-based approach, care deeply about quality and evidence, and want to build partnerships that deliver real impact.

Change happens when lived experience, evidence and collaboration come together.