Maurice George is CEO of Ways into Work and Chair of the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE).
When I left a career in contemporary dance in my early twenties, I had no idea I would end up leading a supported employment charity.
My route into the sector was accidental. A temporary teaching assistant role in a London special school introduced me, for the first time, to a non-verbal autistic young person. What stayed with me was the realisation that I had reached 22 without ever meeting someone like him.
That absence spoke to something bigger: how invisible some members of our society still are.
I trained as a teacher and later moved into careers and preparation-for-adulthood leadership roles. One question kept resurfacing: where were these young people going after school? I wasn’t seeing them in the workplace. That absence felt systemic.
Years later, as CEO of Ways into Work, I see the same issue from a different vantage point. And I believe our sector has an uncomfortable truth to confront.
We celebrate job entry too quickly – and in doing so, risk mistaking short-term outcomes for long-term success.
In supported employment, we often treat the moment someone secures a job as the finish line. Press release written. Outcome recorded. Target met.
But disabled people have the same right to career progression, wage progression and long-term stability as anyone else. Securing a contract is not the same as building a career.
If our ambition is genuine inclusion, then retention and progression must matter just as much as entry.
The myth of ‘work readiness’
One of the most persistent narratives in disability employment is the idea of ‘work readiness’. We assess, prepare, train and certify people as ready for employment.
Yet most of us were not ‘work-ready’ on our first day. We learned by doing. We made mistakes. We were supported informally.
For many neurodivergent individuals or people with learning disabilities, real capability is best demonstrated in the workplace itself – not in simulated environments or formal interviews.
That’s why we operate a “place, train, maintain” model. We place someone into a real role aligned to their aspirations. We support them to learn on the job. And crucially, we maintain support for as long as it’s needed.
For example, that ongoing support might involve regular check-ins with both employee and employer, adjusting tasks as confidence grows, or stepping in early if challenges arise – small interventions that prevent roles from breaking down.
The ongoing element is often the least funded and least prioritised part of the provision. But it is the difference between short-term success and sustainable careers.
Fear, not resistance
When working with employers, I’ve learned that the biggest barrier is rarely hostility. It’s fear.
Fear of getting it wrong.
Fear of saying the wrong thing.
Fear of legal complexity.
In my experience, the majority of barriers stem from uncertainty rather than unwillingness.
Our role is not to shame employers but to build confidence. When employers understand that small adjustments – such as offering work trials instead of relying solely on interviews – can unlock significant talent, attitudes shift quickly.
Inclusion is not about lowering standards. It is about widening access to opportunity.
Why governance matters
In May 2024, Ways into Work transitioned from a Community Interest Company to a registered charity, having originally been established as a council-run service.
That transition was not cosmetic. It was about sustainability.
Charitable status has allowed us to reinvest surplus into underfunded elements of our model – particularly post-employment support and progression. It has strengthened our credibility with funders and enabled us to build partnerships across the South East of England.
But it has also sharpened my awareness of how funding structures can unintentionally incentivise short-term outcomes over long-term impact.
Commissioning frameworks still tend to reward job starts over job sustainability. This creates a system where providers are driven towards quick wins rather than meaningful, lasting change.
If we only fund job starts, we will get job starts. If we fund retention, progression and career development, we will build a more inclusive and productive workforce.
Moving from outputs to outcomes
Last year, we supported approximately 500 people into employment and worked with around 230 employers. Those numbers matter, but they are not the whole story.
The deeper measure of success is whether someone remains in work, grows in confidence, increases their hours, moves roles, or progresses financially.
Disabled people have ambition, agency and dreams. Our responsibility as sector leaders is to ensure our systems do not cap those aspirations at entry level.
Supported employment should not be seen as a specialist add-on. It is a workforce strategy. It addresses recruitment challenges, improves retention and strengthens organisational culture.
For me, this work is still about visibility – ensuring that people who were once invisible in my own life are no longer invisible in our workplaces.
But it is also about maturity as a sector.
If we are serious about social justice, commissioners, funders and providers must align around a shared goal: not just getting people into jobs, but supporting them to build careers.
If we are serious about social justice, we must move beyond celebrating access and start funding and designing for progression.
Only then will supported employment fulfil its potential — not just filling vacancies, but transforming lives and strengthening our economy.
