What is the Mencap Training Academy?
Mencap Training Academy is a specialist provider of
supported internships
A work placement for young people with additional needs, where they get support from a job coach.
and pre-internships which aim to support young people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
and/or
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
to find a paid job. We are a part of the Royal Mencap Society.
Rated 'Good' by Ofsted, we run programmes in London, Birmingham, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.
Who can do a supported internship or pre-internship?
To be eligible for supported internships or pre-internships,
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. They decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income
Income is all the money you get from things like paid jobs and government benefits.
tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council Tax is the money that people pay to the council. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay for things and how things like the National Health Service should work.
requires learners to:
- Be aged 16 to 24
- Have a current
Education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). You must also: - Want to find a job
- Live in, or close to, an area where we deliver
You don't need any qualifications, and we offer programmes suited to learners with different levels of
experience
Experience is when you have learned or tried something before.
and confidence.
Our different programmes and where we deliver
We offer three different programme types for young people aged 16-24 who have an EHCP.
Different programme types may be more suitable depending on the amount of
work experience
Work experience is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
young people may have done in the past, and how confident they are about doing work experience.
To learn more about our different programme types and where we offer them, select from the buttons on the right. You can also read and download our prospectus documents for each of the areas we deliver in.
Maddie's supported internship journey
Watch our video to hear from one of our former supported internship learners, Maddie, who is just one of the many young people we have supported into work.
You can find other inspirational stories on our individual programme pages.
Learners develop very positive attitudes to learning and work. As they learn new skills at work, learners grow in confidence and work with increasing autonomy. Tutors and skills coaches teach and demonstrate the behaviours learners need in lessons and at work placements.
Get in touch
If you would like to enrol on one of our supported internship or pre-internship programmes, then the best way to start this process is to complete our online expression of interest form.
If you would like to speak with someone from one of our local teams, then email addresses and phone numbers for local programme coordinators can be found in the FAQ sections of our individual programme pages.
If you would like to get in touch about anything else, or should you not hear back after completing the form or contacting one of our colleagues, please email our general enquiries inbox and we will work to resolve your query as quickly as possible.
If you would like to compliment us on our work, or to send us feedback, or make a complaint, then you can do so on the Mencap
website
A website is a page you can go to on the internet like Google or YouTube.
:
Supported internships are programmes for young people, aged 16-24 who have an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) and who want to find a job. They are full time study programmes which means learners are enrolled on them full-time for an academic year between September and July, just like with school or college.
But unlike most school or college courses, most of the learning is completed in a real-life workplace. The government expects supported internship learners to complete at least 420 hours of work experience while they are on the programme. Learners are supported to learn the skills and behaviours needed in the workplace to succeed so they can secure offers of paid
employment
Employment means having a job.
.
Pre-internships are similar to supported internships, but there is more focus on the development of skills and behaviours away from the workplace. The aim of these programmes is to more gradually build learners' confidence so they feel ready to progress onto a supported internship the next year.
You do not need to pay to access any of our supported internship or pre-internship programmes as they are funded by the Department for Education and
local authorities
A local authority is another name for your local council. It is a group of people whose job is to look after the area where you live. Local authorities means more than one local authority.
.
Any benefits you receive should be unaffected if you join a supported internship programme.
The Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is sometimes called the
DWP
DWP stands for the government Department for Work and Pensions.
. It is part of the government and manages payments and benefits like Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment,
Employment and Support Allowance
Employment and Support Allowance is sometimes called ESA. It is a benefit for people who find it harder to get a job because of a disability or a long term health condition.
, and Income Support.
(DWP) may ask for evidence that you are on one of our programmes so please let us know if you receive any benefits like Universal Credit (UC) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) when discussing enrolment.
If you secure a paid job through the programme then your benefits may be affected depending on the number of hours a week you work. We will discuss this with you at the enrolment stage also.
Learners are not paid while on our supported internship or pre-internship programmes.
The aim of supported internships is to help learners develop skills, behaviours and experiences that will help them to secure paid employment. This may be with an employer that learners do work experience with while on one of our programmes, or we will help learners to apply for other opportunities, applying the skills and experiences they have gained from the course.
Our employer partners sometimes offer paid employment by employers before the end of the academic year in July.
You might be eligible for one of our bursaries.
The Mencap Training Academy receives some money from the Department for Education (DfE) which we can provide to learners on our programme to help cover the cost of transport, books or clothes for work, up to £1200 a year. The DfE set
certain
Certain means you are sure about something.
eligibility criteria in order for learners to draw down this funding:
- You must have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years before enrolling on one of our programmes.
- Your household income must be below £30,000 or below £33,000 if you live in London
Or
- You are aged under 19.
- You must have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years before enrolling on one of our programmes.
- You are in or have recently left local authority/foster care; or you receive Universal Credit (UC) or Income Support in your own right; or you receive both Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments in your own right and Employment and Support Allowance and UC in your own right.
We will ask you if you think you are eligible for and would like to receive a bursary during our
assessment
An assessment is a way of finding out what help a person needs. When you have an assessment, you might have to go to a meeting or fill in a form.
and enrolment process. You can find out more about our bursaries and how to access them in our bursary policy.
All of our supported internships and pre-internships run for an academic year from September to July. We aim to support learners on our pre-internships to
transition
Transition means changing from one thing to another. Transition sometimes means things like when you change from having children's social care to adult social care.
onto our supported internships and where this is achieved, learners then spend a further year with us. Our programmes are full-time education programmes. It is possible for some people to start on our programmes in October if they narrowly miss the September cut off point.
The government currently requires all learners on supported internships and pre-internship to have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
In some cases, we may be able to support you in applying to your local authority for an EHCP and/or to advise you on how to start the process.
You can find more information about EHCPs and the process for obtaining one on the Mencap website.
