Internships Work Programme Extended for the 2025/2026 Academic Year

BASE and Inclusive Trading CIC are incredibly proud to announce and support the official extension of the Department for Education’s (DfE) highly impactful Internships Work Programme for the 2025/2026 academic year. We are looking forward to continuing our crucial role in the national delivery of this successful programme, working closely in collaboration with our valued strategic partners at NDTi and DFN Project SEARCH.

Our Core Objectives for the Extension

As part of this vital ongoing initiative, our primary objectives will include the following key areas of delivery:

1. Training 200 Supported Internship Job Coaches

We aim to deliver comprehensive, high-quality training in Supported Employment Techniques and Training in Systematic Instruction (TSI) to 200 dedicated job coaches across the country. Due to anticipated high demand and limited availability, priority booking will be given to:

• Local authority areas that received limited training access during the initial three years of the programme.
• Service providers directly identified through SIQAF peer reviews as needing targeted staff development.
• Areas with newly established Supported Internship provisions looking to build capacity.

To express your formal interest in attending these courses, please complete this official application form.

2. Delivering 60 SIQAF Peer Reviews

We will facilitate and conduct 60 formal peer reviews using the rigorous Supported Internship Quality Assurance Framework (SIQAF). These structured reviews are expertly designed to support continuous improvement and guarantee high standards across all Supported Internship provisions.

To book a SIQAF peer review or simply to learn more about the process, we will be hosting regular, informative Lunch and Learn sessions in the coming months. We strongly advise you to subscribe to the calendar updates on our website to be instantly notified when new dates are added, or you can send us an email directly to register your interest.

Access Resources and Further Information

For comprehensive resources, toolkit downloads, and all the latest updates related to the Internships Work programme, please visit the official hub: Internships Work: Resources – NDTi.

For more national media coverage on the recent announcement, you can read The Mirror’s coverage here.