Request for Applications: Career Ready Fund (United Kingdom)

The Career Ready Fund provides grants of up to £200,000 over four years to UK charitable organisations supporting young people with learning disabilities to prepare for employment. The fund supports job coach-led careers education, vocational profiling, meaningful work experiences, and pathways into supported internships, employment, and paid work.

About the Career Ready Fund

The Career Ready Fund is part of the Henry Smith Foundation’s Building Independence Programme. It is designed to help young people with learning disabilities develop the skills, confidence, and support they need as they transition from education into adulthood and employment.

The programme focuses on embedding trained job coaches within mainstream and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school settings.

Job coaches provide personalised employment support based on supported employment principles, helping young people understand their strengths, interests, skills, and employment goals.

The fund also aims to strengthen collaboration between schools, families, employers, and specialist employment providers.

What Does the Career Ready Fund Support?

The fund supports organisations delivering structured careers and employment pathways for young people with learning disabilities.

Priority activities include:

• Early vocational profiling.
• Person-centred careers education.
• Employment preparation.
• Meaningful and appropriately matched work experiences.
• Job coaching within schools.
• Development of employer partnerships.
• Collaboration with families and schools.
• Support for transitions from education into employment.
• Pathways into supported internships.
• Pathways into paid employment.
• Training and professional development for job coaches.
• Activities that incorporate young people’s voices and lived experience.

The programme places particular emphasis on ensuring that work experiences are meaningful, appropriate, and matched to each young person’s interests and abilities.

Funding Available

Successful organisations can receive:

• £200,000 over four years.
• Equivalent to £50,000 per year.

Funding can contribute to the costs associated with establishing and maintaining job coaching services.

Eligible costs may include:

• Recruitment of job coaches.
• Job coach salaries.
• Job coach training.
• Continuing professional development.
• Management and supervision.
• Travel expenses.
• Resources and materials.
• Core organisational costs that support job coaching activities.

Accessibility support grants are also available for applicants who need assistance with the application process.

Who Is Eligible?

The Career Ready Fund is open to eligible charitable and not-for-profit organisations working in the UK.

Eligible applicants include:

• Registered charities.
• Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs).
• Not-for-profit Community Interest Companies (CICs) with an asset lock.

Applicants must meet several organisational requirements.

They must:

• Be registered and operating in the UK.
• Have at least one year of audited or independently examined accounts.
• Have an annual income of less than £3 million.
• Have a demonstrable track record of supporting young people with learning disabilities.
• Have experience using supported employment approaches or models.
• Be able to work effectively with schools and other relevant partners.

Are Schools Eligible to Apply?

Schools cannot apply directly for this funding.

The fund is intended for charitable organisations that work in partnership with schools.

Eligible organisations can therefore develop collaborative arrangements with:

• Mainstream schools.
• SEND schools.
• Families and caregivers.
• Employers.
• Specialist employment providers.
• Other community organisations.

This partnership approach is important because the programme seeks to create coordinated employment pathways rather than isolated careers activities.

Priority Areas

The Career Ready Fund has several interconnected priorities.

Vocational Profiling

Young people should receive early support to identify their interests, strengths, abilities, preferences, and employment aspirations.

This information can then be used to develop personalised career pathways.

Meaningful Work Experience

The programme seeks to move beyond generic work placements.

Work experiences should be:

• Meaningful.
• Accessible.
• Appropriate to the young person’s interests.
• Matched to their skills and aspirations.
• Connected to potential employment opportunities.

Job Coaching

Trained job coaches are central to the programme.

They can help young people prepare for work, identify suitable opportunities, communicate with employers, and develop the practical skills needed to enter and sustain employment.

Partnership Working

Strong collaboration between schools, families, employers, and specialist providers is encouraged.

These partnerships can help create smoother transitions from education to supported internships and paid employment.

Youth Voice

The programme places importance on young people’s voices and lived experience.

Projects should involve young people in decisions about their careers and support them to express their employment goals and preferences.

Why It Matters

Young people with learning disabilities can face significant barriers when moving from education into employment.

Early careers guidance, personalised vocational planning, appropriate work experience, and professional job coaching can help young people understand their employment options and develop realistic pathways into work.

The Career Ready Fund seeks to strengthen this transition by embedding employment expertise within educational settings and connecting young people with employers and specialist support.

The long-term goal is to create clearer pathways into supported internships, sustainable employment, and paid work.

How the Career Ready Fund Works

Organisations interested in the programme should consider the following process:

1. Assess eligibility: Confirm that the organisation meets the legal, financial, geographical, and experience requirements.
2. Identify school partnerships: Establish relationships with appropriate mainstream or SEND schools.
3. Define the need: Explain the employment and careers barriers experienced by young people with learning disabilities.
4. Develop a job coaching model: Describe how trained job coaches will provide person-centred support.
5. Plan work experiences: Show how young people will access meaningful and appropriately matched employment experiences.
6. Build employer relationships: Demonstrate how employers and other partners will contribute.
7. Develop an employment pathway: Explain how the project will connect young people with supported internships and paid employment.
8. Prepare the budget: Detail job coach salaries, training, supervision, travel, resources, and other eligible costs.
9. Submit the application: Provide the required organisational and financial information and demonstrate the project’s expected outcomes.

How to Prepare a Strong Application

A strong application should demonstrate that the proposed project is practical, evidence-based, and capable of producing meaningful employment outcomes.

Applicants should:

• Clearly identify the needs of the young people they intend to support.
• Explain how job coaches will be embedded within school settings.
• Demonstrate experience supporting young people with learning disabilities.
• Explain the supported employment approach being used.
• Provide evidence of successful partnerships with schools or employers.
• Describe how young people will influence their own career plans.
• Explain how work placements will be matched to individual interests and abilities.
• Show how the project can lead to supported internships or paid employment.
• Provide a realistic four-year financial plan.
• Explain how job coaches will be trained and professionally supported.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Applicants should avoid:

• Applying directly as a school.
• Describing general careers education without a clear employment pathway.
• Providing work experiences that are not matched to individual young people.
• Failing to demonstrate experience with learning disabilities.
• Treating job coaching as a short-term activity rather than an ongoing support model.
• Failing to involve employers.
• Ignoring young people’s preferences and aspirations.
• Providing an unclear or unrealistic budget.
• Focusing only on activities without explaining measurable employment outcomes.

Key Programme Details

• Fund: Career Ready Fund
• Programme: Building Independence Programme
• Funder: Henry Smith Foundation
• Funding: £200,000
• Funding period: Four years
• Annual equivalent: £50,000
• Target beneficiaries: Young people with learning disabilities
• Main support: Job coaching and employment preparation
• Eligible applicants: UK charities and eligible not-for-profit organisations
• Annual income limit: Below £3 million
• Minimum accounts history: One year of audited or independently examined accounts
• Schools: Cannot apply directly
• Key partners: Schools, families, employers, and specialist providers

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Career Ready Fund?

The Career Ready Fund is a Henry Smith Foundation programme supporting job coach-led careers education and employment pathways for young people with learning disabilities.

How much funding is available?

Successful organisations can receive £200,000 over four years, equivalent to £50,000 per year.

Who can apply?

Registered charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations, and eligible not-for-profit Community Interest Companies with an asset lock can apply if they meet the programme’s financial, operational, and experience requirements.

Can schools apply directly?

No. Schools are not eligible to apply directly. The programme supports charitable organisations that work in partnership with mainstream or SEND schools.

What can the funding pay for?

Funding can support job coach recruitment, salaries, training, professional development, management, supervision, travel, resources, and eligible core organisational costs connected to job coaching.

What type of young people does the fund support?

The fund focuses on young people with learning disabilities, particularly those who need additional support to prepare for employment and transition from education into adulthood.

What outcomes does the programme aim to achieve?

The programme aims to create clearer pathways from careers education and work experience into supported internships, employment, and paid work, while strengthening collaboration between young people, schools, families, employers, and specialist providers.

Conclusion

The Career Ready Fund offers substantial long-term funding for UK charitable organisations seeking to improve employment opportunities for young people with learning disabilities. By supporting trained job coaches, personalised careers education, meaningful work experiences, and strong partnerships with schools and employers, the fund aims to create practical pathways from education into supported internships and paid employment.

Organisations with a proven track record in supported employment and learning disability services should demonstrate how their proposed job coaching model will respond to local needs, centre young people’s voices, involve employers, and produce sustainable employment outcomes.