Our supported internship in Birmingham
Learners on our supported internship in Birmingham complete a minimum of 420 hours
work experience
Work
experience
Experience is when you have learned or tried something before.
is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
over the year. We can offer work experience placements with employers in retail, hospitality, health and
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
, and warehousing and logistics.
Employers we work with in Birmingham
Greene King. The UK's biggest pub chain. Hospitality work experience placements available in front of house and back of house roles - waiting on tables, serving at the bar and working in kitchens.
The Midlands Arts Centre. Work experience placements available working at the centre's cafe and in other facilities like the cinema and recording studio.
Bella Italia. Italian restaurant chain. Front and back of house work experience placements available.
Chopstix Noodle Bar. Noodle restaurant chain. Front and back of house work experience placements available in Birmingham restaurants.
Cineworld. Hospitality work experience placements available in roles providing
customer
A customer is a person who buys something or uses a service.
service, selling tickets and food, cleaning.
Sanctuary Care.
Care home
A care home is a place where people who need support live. There are staff there all the time.
provider. Health and social care work experience placements available in roles like carer, activity assistant, play worker.
Evri. Leading logistics company. Warehouse operative work experience placements available at their Birmingham warehouse.
Where is it?
Learners on our Birmingham supported internship attend classes at the Lewis in central Birmingham 2 days a week. They spend the rest of the week in work experience placements.
Ty's story
Ty completed our supported internship in Birmingham and did work experience at one of Evri's warehouses. His colleagues were quickly impressed by Ty's ability to learn new skills and offered him a job at the end of his placement. Ty said: "I've really been welcomed into the Evri family. I've been able to showcase my talents and make new friends too."
How can young people enrol on this course?
To express an interest in joining our supported internship in Birmingham and to start the enrolment process, please complete our online expression of interest form.
If you or the person you are enquiring on behalf of are eligible for a supported internship, then a member of the team will work to get in touch with you within 14 working days.
Before we can agree to enrol learners, we will need to see a copy of the young person's EHCP and to meet with them to discuss why you want to do a supported internship, as well as your skills, needs and interests.
Our Birmingham prospectus
You can find out more about all our courses in Birmingham in our 2025/26 prospectus.
Our classroom where we deliver the classroom learning elements of our supported internship in Birmingham is at the Lewis Building in the city centre. It is a 0.3 mile (6 minute) walk from Birmingham New Street station. It is also close to bus stops on the 74, 66 and X64 routes (from Priory Queensway stops) as well as the 9, 12, 12A, 82, 87 and 101 routes (from Colmore Row stops).
We offer work experience with lots of different employers in Northamptonshire, so we can potentially find placements for learners that are nearer their homes if this is needed.
We understand that some people may not have much experience of travelling on their own and may feel nervous about finding their way to our classrooms and to their work experience placements.
We encourage people to come and visit our premises before enrolling to see what it’s like and to get a sense of the journey from home. We also try to arrange meetings with employers where learners will do work experience before they start on the programme so they can experience the journey to the workplace as well.
You may also be able to get some travel support before joining the supported internship from your local council.
For Birmingham City Council residents, visit https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50052/school_travel/893/independent_travel_training_itt
For Solihull residents, visit https://www.solihull.gov.uk/Schools-and-learning/independent-travel-training
Mencap can also provide travel training for up to 6 weeks at the start of the programme to help learners learn the routes to their work placements.
If you would like to enquire about enrolling on our supported internship in Birmingham, then the best way to start the process is by completing our online expression of interest form.
However, if you would like to get in touch with a member of the team directly, then please contact the programme coordinator in Birmingham, Mia Smith.
07814 938 821
For general enquiries, you can also contact: employment.support@mencap.org.uk