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Connect to Work - Invitation to Bid

Closing date for bids on this is Friday 27th March 2026


Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council are seeking to appoint partner organisations from the voluntary and community sector, to work with us in the delivery of Individual Placement Support programmes (IPS), assisting those from disadvantaged groups into sustainable paid employment. This will be funded through the Connect to Work programme.


We are initially seeking projects for delivery up to 31st March 2027. This could be extended should further funding be secured.


Introduction

Connect to Work, which will be devolved to the regions and form part of South Yorkshire’s Pathways to Work System, will fund the delivery of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Employment Quality Framework (SEQF) services targeted at residents with more complex needs.


This programme rationalises DWP-funded activity in the work and health space, as a single-entity replacement for the national Work and Health Programme, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and Local Supported Employment. Connect to Work will extend eligibility for IPS and SEQF services to a wider range of cohorts.


Rotherham Council received a further allocation of grant funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to administer and develop the Connect to Work programme across the borough up to 31st March 2030. The Council is now seeking to fund (via sub-grants) the IPS activity through an open and competitive grant process.


An exhaustive list of the cohorts supported in Connect to Work can be found within Appendix 2 and more detail on the hyperlocal approach for Rotherham can be found in Appendix 6.


APPLICATION, FUNDING AND TIMESCALES

Funded projects and activities must currently be delivered by 31st March 2027. There is no commitment to funding beyond this date.


For any questions about the Connect to Work Individual Placement and Support programmes, then please contact andrew.aitcheson@rotherham.gov.uk or andy.johnson@rotherham.gov.uk



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