Our Work

Photo shows two clients working on a laptop

Right to Control is designed to give disabled people aged 18 years and over more choice and control over their support. This new right means you can have more control over the social care, housing related support and employment support and funding you get.

Trafford Centre for Independent Living

Trafford Council has opened a new Centre for Independent Living to support Trafford residents with information, advocacy and brokerage services.

Photo shows Anna Perischine, a Liverpool Employment Team Client, at work.

Liverpool Employment Support

We support disabled people who live in the City of Liverpool into employment, work-related training and further education. We work with disabled people to remove the barriers to gaining and retaining employment, or training for work. We support employers in recruiting and retaining disabled staff.

Photo shows Ghazanfer Nadeem, former employment team client at work.

Manchester Employment Support and Training

This team supports disabled people who live within the boundaries of the City of Manchester into employment and work-related training. We will work with disabled people and employers to gain and sustain employment, or training for work.

Photo shows 2 of Breakthrough's trainers during Disability Equality Action Training.

Training, Research and Consultancy

Our trainers and consultants are disabled people who combine expertise in their subject with lived experience. They have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the barriers faced by disabled people and how these may be removed. Whether working with managers on strategy and policy, or delivering training to customer services staff, our trainers use engaging, thought provoking methods, which lead to action.

Photo shows our Chief Executive, Lorraine Gradwell MBE, at her desk.

Policy Development

Find out about Breakthrough's influential policy and research work.

In the period April 2010 to March 2011:

553 people were supported through our employment, training, and advocacy services.
43 people were supported into paid employment.
75 people were supported into voluntary work.
62 people received in-work support from employment officers to learn or retain a job.
*31 people benefited from one-to-one intensive advocacy support to remove employment related barriers.
94 people developed skills in IT, Retail, Administration, or Horticulture at Breakthrough training sites.
69 people were supported onto external training programmes.
*39 people participated in self-advocacy workshops, learning about employment rights and sharing strategies for removing employment barriers.
*140 people received tailored responses to their enquiries from our Advocacy Centre’s Information Service.
743 people participated in our training on disability equality, best practice in employment, and accessible events.
86% of course participants rated our training as either good or excellent in terms of content, delivery, and overall usefulness.
14 organisations commissioned work from our Training and Consultancy Services and a further 22 developed links with the service.

* Figures reflect activity for the period April 2010 to October 2010 only as the Independent Employment Advocacy Centre was closed at the end of October.

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