The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Pursuing Independent Paths (PiP) and experts from the School of Health and Social Care has helped to demonstrate the impact of the London-based charity’s life-changing work through the toolkit.
Project funder, Innovate UK, has rated the KTP outstanding in recognition of the toolkit’s potential to bolster the adult social care industry by measuring the social and financial value of organisations who support people with complex learning disabilities, such as Down’s syndrome and autism.
The Social Return on Investment toolkit is already helping PiP make the case for its services as it expands to support more people.
The charity now has almost 100 students, up from 70 at the start of the KTP, and has secured contract work outside its centre.
It will open its first satellite site, the Fruitful Café, in October, giving 18 students paid work experience in hospitality.
PiP’s Deputy CEO, Jack Taylor, said: “This KTP has been the foundations for our growth which will see up provide better support, to more people, on a sounder financial footing.
“This grade reflects the quality of the work by Dr. Tuba, our students, and the team from Essex.”
PiP delivers courses in areas including independent living, health and wellbeing, performing arts and employment.
Demonstrating the impact of this work can be challenging because its students are developing skills for life rather than working towards traditional qualifications.
The Essex partnership has addressed this by creating a bespoke toolkit, co-created with PiP students.
It provides evidence of the benefits generated for students, their families and the wider community, while helping PiP demonstrate its value to funders, commissioners and local authorities.
The project was led by Essex’s Professor Ewen Speed and Dr Konstantinos Roussos, along with Dr Aaron Wyllie, Dr Anne Steinhoff, and Dr John Day.
Professor Speed said: “This project brought the inclusive principles of participatory research into meaningful practice with adults with learning disabilities, a group too often excluded from research and marginalised in policy making and services.
“By working directly with PiP students and other stakeholders we co-created a Social Return on Investment toolkit based on the outcomes and values that students themselves identified as important for their lives in the work of PIP.
“It was a privilege to work in partnership with PiP, with Dr Tuba Gokpinar as our Research Associate, whose hard work made this project so successful, and, above all, with the students whose knowledge and experiences shaped this partnership throughout.”
The success of the KTP underlines Essex and the School of Health and Social Care commitment to inclusive research that values lived experience and co-creates real impact for individuals, organisations and wider communities.
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