Pursuing Independent Paths

Empowering people with learning disabilities

Pursuing Independent Paths (PiP) helps people living with complex learning disabilities, such as Down's syndrome and autism, to achieve their goals, and provides courses in performing arts, independent living, health and wellbeing, and employment.

At the beginning of their KTP journey, the charity had 70 students and a waiting list of another 40. Faced with growing demand for its services and stagnating student personal budgets - which made up 70% of the charity's funding - PiP needed to grow to secure its sustainability.

A charity at capacity

With the charity's central London facility at capacity, PiP needed to take steps to move to a larger space to accommodate its beneficiaries. To finance its growth plans, PiP sought to attract additional funding by demonstrating its value.

However, measuring its impact required a bespoke approach because the charity offers essential life skills and personal development rather than standard qualifications. Through the KTP, PiP aimed to create a first-of-its-kind toolkit that would measure its social return on investment (SROI).

A team of health and social care experts

PiP partnered with Dr Ewen Speed, an expert in participatory research methods, and Dr Konstantinos Roussos, a specialist in social work and social justice, both from the School of Health and Social Care.

Working with a wider multidisciplinary team that also included third-sector business experts, they conducted an SROI analysis to develop a tailored, scalable toolkit that measured impact. Crucially, it also aligned with healthcare commissioning and local authority tender requirements.

Creating happier and healthier lives

The toolkit was co-created with students and has the potential to benefit the wider charitable sector.

For PiP, the toolkit was transformational. It provided proof of the societal and financial impact its services have on students, their families and the local community, while also offering evidence to support the case for new courses and services.

With the toolkit demonstrating its worth, PiP now has close to 100 students and has secured contract work outside of the centre. It is opening its first satellite site in October 2026, the Fruitful Café, which will host 18 students gaining paid work experience in hospitality.

By the end of 2026, PiP hopes to launch another expansion that will support a further 10–15 students with more complex needs, and is looking to secure a bespoke, larger premises within the next 3–5 years.