Breakthrough UK

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Background

Breakthrough UK is a social enterprise controlled by disabled people which tackles barriers to employment and independence which many disabled people experience. It has run many successful programmes and projects in Manchester and Liverpool, supporting individual disabled people into work and training organisations and policy makers who wished to adopt the social model of disability.

In recent years, mainstream organisations have taken on Breakthrough’s innovative practices. Recognising that access to employment is intrinsically connected with the wider issues of independent living, the company resolved to change its remit from employment to a broader focus on independent living.

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Our Interventions

Infrastruct worked with Breakthrough UK to revise its management and operational structure, creating a new senior management team that was fit for the new purpose and would give Breakthrough the opportunity to adopt a new ethos whilst remaining true to its founding principles.

In consultation with senior managers, Infrastruct drew up a set of expectations and competencies for the newly-aligned company. This was discussed with all staff in focus groups and a new structure was approved by the Board. Infrastruct then drew up detailed job descriptions and person specifications, so that Breakthrough UK was ready to recruit staff and implement its new structure.

Outcome Insights from Manchester residents were collected, providing the project team with valuable information on the users experiences with the home energy monitoring equipment and the practicality of the system they were testing online. Transcripts from the focus groups were provided to MDDA’s academic partners, which will be used to inform the research and evaluation of the project.