Advertisement
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: 3 months for just £9.99
SUBSCRIBE
Activism

Big Issue Invest's £400k boost to help 1,700 ex-addicts find jobs

Drugs and alcohol abuse charity WDP will use the investment to provide a path to employment and in-work support in eight London boroughs

Big Issue Invest WDP

The Big Issue’s social investment arm Big Issue Invest (BII) has committed £400,000 to help people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse enter employment.

WDP – a charity helping people affected by substance misuse – will use the investment to help more than 1,700 people across eight London boroughs, offering them intensive support alongside an up-front job search leading to paid employment. They will also receive in-work support from an employment specialist.

Big Issue Invest WDP
IPS-Into-Work-2
More than 1,700 people with a history of substance misuse will benefit from the investment

Using the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, WDP will support people who would otherwise be unable to enter the jobs market in Brent, Barnet, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Ealing, Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.

The social impact bond is an outcome-based investment from BII’s Outcomes Investment Fund.

“This will be the largest IPS social impact bond service to date backed by a social investor,” said Lars Hagelmann, investment director at BII. “As the third investment into this service through Mental Health and Employment Partnership, this is an exemplary case of the outcomes fund proving and then scaling an exciting innovation that’s positively impacting hundreds of lives in London.”

Yasmin Batliwala, WDP chair, added: “We are delighted to have been awarded this groundbreaking contract. The new service – IPS Into Work – will guarantee much-needed resource to support people into paid employment and also enable them to live healthier and more productive lives.

Advertisement
Advertisement

“WDP has a strong reputation in assisting our service users to reintegrate through many successful and progressive in-house initiatives. We are confident this offer will further enhance our service users’ potential to achieve lasting recovery.”

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Meet the tireless volunteers making sure children in poverty have a Christmas to remember
Christmas toy appeals

Meet the tireless volunteers making sure children in poverty have a Christmas to remember

Here's what to do if you see a homeless person
a person lies on the pavement facing away from the camera, with a guitar propped up beside them
Homelessness

Here's what to do if you see a homeless person

These charities collect furniture for free to help those in need
a bare mattress pushed against a window in a dark room
Charity

These charities collect furniture for free to help those in need

Malala Yousafzai on taking on the Taliban and why 'storytelling is the soul of activism'
Malala Yousafzai
Activism

Malala Yousafzai on taking on the Taliban and why 'storytelling is the soul of activism'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know