What is a supported internship for young people with SEND?

A supported internship is a structured, work-based study programme for 16- to 24-year-olds with SEND who have an EHC plan. It is unpaid, lasts up to a year, and uses a job coach to reach paid employment. It is a real route into work, not a placement that drifts nowhere: the whole design points at a job at the end.

How the year works

Most of the programme happens at an employer's premises rather than in a classroom. The Department for Education says interns spend around 70% of their time in the workplace, learning the real tasks of a real job, with the rest given over to study and the skills they need alongside work, such as travelling independently or managing money. A programme runs for a minimum of six months and up to a year.

The person who makes it work is the job coach. A job coach is trained to the national occupational standards for supported employment, and their role is to learn the job alongside your young person, break it into manageable steps, and then gradually step back as confidence grows so the support fades rather than props the role up forever.

Why it is unpaid

A supported internship sits in education, so an intern is exempt from the National Minimum Wage and there is no expectation of pay. That sounds wrong at first, but the legal point is that an intern is taking part in a study programme as part of their education, not working as an employee (National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, reg. 53). Many employers do choose to pay, and some interns are kept on in a paid job at the end. Your young person can keep their EHC plan while on the internship, because a council still has to support their move into adult life (SEND Code of Practice, preparing for adulthood).

The EHC-plan gateway most pages leave out

Here is the qualifier the local-authority pages tend to skip. Under the current rules in 2026, the EHC plan is the gateway: supported internships are normally open only to 16- to 24-year-olds who hold an EHC plan, not to every young person with SEND. So a young person with SEND support at school but no plan would not usually qualify today. Two things are worth knowing:

• The DfE is running a small pilot in selected local authorities testing supported internships for young people with SEND who do not have an EHC plan, being evaluated to inform future policy, so availability may widen.
• Government reform proposals are looking at narrowing EHC plans to the most complex needs over the coming years. Nothing changes the gateway right now, but it is worth watching.

For the bigger picture of how support carries on past 16, see whether an EHCP lasts until 25, keeping the plan at college, and our guide to the 16 to 25 transition.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.