Scottish Union of Supported Employment

Introduction

The Scottish Union of Supported Employment is an umbrella organisation for public, private and voluntary bodies interested in supported employment, social inclusion and the changeover from traditional resource centre based day services to programmes in the community. The organisation was established in 1995 and for the next three years was run by volunteers who worked hard to establish an infrastructure, culminating in December 1998 with the award of £138,000 of National Lottery funding.

Since the Lottery funding ended the Board members take a more central role in the development and delivery of the Supported Employment policy and strategy in Scotland. The progress and profile of SUSE continues to increase and there have been a number of exciting developments in the past few years. This has included:

• The creation of this website and the learning portal, which is for members
• A blueprint for Supported Employment in Scotland
• Equality and Diversity Training for employers and practitioners
• An annual conference
• Four full member network meetings per annum
• Membership of the European Union of Supported Employment
• Input in Scottish supported employment policy, and development of tools for improving supported employment quality and consistency.

Board members worked with the Scottish Government and COSLA (Confederation of Scottish Local Autorities) to develop and deliver the recommendations laid out in the Scottish Executive's Equal Opportunities report (Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities) This culminated it the publication of "A Working Life for All Disabled People. The Supported Employment Framework for Scotland", in 2010.

The profile and interest in Supported Employment has never been higher and SUSE is at the forefront of developing and delivering the model to a wider target audience.