About the British Association for Supported Employment

About the British Association for Supported Employment

BASE is the membership association for organisations that provide, or have an interest in, specialist employment support for people with a disability or other economic disadvantage. We campaign actively on behalf of disabled, neurodivergent and disadvantaged jobseekers, and the organisations that support them, to promote better policy, better delivery and better funding of support.

We want to create an 'Employment is for allculture within UK Business

  • by removing barriers and raising aspirations for disabled, neurodivergent, and disadvantaged people
  • by changing beliefs within the workplace and creating inclusive recruitment opportunities.
  • by driving quality within the employment support sector through the use of the supported employment model and quality frameworks  

Our Vision is that 

  • Every disabled, neurodivergent, and disadvantaged person across the UK has access to the right support to access good quality careers, through a highly trained workforce.
  • Employers are not only signed up to Disability Confident but equipped with right support from local supported employment services to become Disability Confidence in Action.
  • A mixed economy of provision, with supported employment model at the heart, is available for everyone from Education to Adulthood.  

What is Supported Employment 

Supported Employment is a robust, values-led method of supporting disabled/disadvantaged people into well matched jobs, whilst also supporting employers to create and sustain more inclusive workplaces.
Find out more about the 5 stage Model of Supported Employment  

What BASE does ?

We champion the interests of supported employment providers, job seekers and employers so that inclusive recruitment becomes the norm and  'Employment is For All'  can be become a reality.

Working in partnership with policy makers, central and local government, researchers as well as people with lived experience, we share expertise, evidence and knowledge about what works

As charitable membership association we depend on membership subscriptions to fund the work that we do. You can support our work in promoting high quality supported employment provision across the country by joining BASE.

Who runs BASE?

Established in 2006, BASE is a charitable membership association funded mainly through membership subscriptions and donations from its trading company, Inclusive Trading CIC.

BASE is run by a small staff team and managed by a National Executive Committee (NEC), made up of volunteers with experience of supported employment and inclusive recruitment.

Who can be a member?

Full membership of BASE (with voting rights) to organisations who provide or facilitate paid employment, advice, guidance or training for people with a disability and/or other economic disadvantage. 

Associate membership of BASE (no voting rights)  is available to individuals over the age of 18 and organisations with an interest in supported employment 

The benefits of membership

  • ongoing access to advice and support from our Team, your regional representative and the wider BASE network
  • access to our online membership community portal with over 800 members
  • quarterly regional network meetings
  • free advertising of sector vacancies
  • regular newsletters and the opportunity to contribute to consultations
  • free member only webinars

BASE has a partnership with Inclusive Trading CIC who offer the following additional benefits to members

  • 20% Discount on all Training
  • discounted delegate places at events
Warwickshire County Council have been a BASE member for a number of years and benefited from a wide variety of support. The regional partnerships have always been particularly useful and enabled our team to gain new industry knowledge and benefit from the sharing of  “best practice” across the network and regional meetings. 

Fay Winterburn – Lead commissioner (Employability and Skills), Warwickshire County Council 

To join BASE, please visit our membership page.