IPS Fidelity Reviews
Social Finance’s IPS Grow team reviews how closely Connect to Work IPS services align to the IPS fidelity scale each year.
Connect to Work
Fidelity Assurance in Connect to Work
Discover how fidelity assurance underpins the quality and consistency of Connect to Work services across England and Wales. Explore how IPS and SEQF standards support continuous improvement, inclusive employment and meaningful outcomes for people facing barriers to work.
Connect to Work programme
Fidelity in practice
How fidelity assurance supports Connect to Work
BASE and Inclusive Trading are delighted to be working in collaboration with Social Finance, supporting the Department for Work and Pensions in the delivery of Connect to Work, a central programme within the Government’s Get Britain Working Strategy. Running from August 2025 to March 2030, this national contract is designed to help ensure IPS and Supported Employment Quality Framework services across England and Wales are delivered to the highest standards.
- IPS Fidelity and SEQF give services a shared benchmark for quality and consistency.
- Reviews highlight strengths, risks and practical opportunities for improvement.
- Communities of Practice and SMART action plans help improvements stick in delivery.
Quality assurance sits at the heart of Connect to Work. The IPS Fidelity Scale and BASE’s Supported Employment Quality Framework provide a structured way to review practice, identify strengths, and guide improvement across both IPS and SEQF services so that quality is not left to interpretation.
Adapted language
Adapted language for Connect to Work
As an essential first step, Social Finance and BASE convened Expert Reference Groups to refine the language used in the fidelity scales. These groups included IPS and SEQF services, experts by experience, DWP, CfMH, commissioners, employers and research professionals.
The wording has been adapted so that terminology resonates with the unique context of Connect to Work services while the integrity of the scales themselves remains unchanged.
Following IPS fidelity and SEQF reviews, services take part in Communities of Practice to reflect on findings, share learning and explore solutions together across the programme.
Those discussions then inform tailored SMART action plans, helping improvements become embedded in practice and supporting meaningful, lasting employment outcomes for people facing health conditions and complex barriers to work.
Resources and training
Documents, guidance and next steps.
Use the resources below to access the adapted Connect to Work documents, government guidance and relevant training support for managers and delivery teams.
Training and next steps
Support managers and delivery teams to embed quality in Connect to Work.
Inclusive Trading delivers training on the Supported Employment Quality Framework that is suitable for managers of Connect to Work services. Ask about Connect to Work training and continue with the linked programme guidance.
- Latest courses
- Connect to Work guidance
- Get Britain Working Strategy