Regional SEN Transition to Employment Initiative(Real Opportunities): Impact of the Real Opportunities Project

The Regional SEN Transition to Employment Initiative (Real Opportunities project) set out to address the lack of support for employment for people with learning disabilities and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and implement a number of the approaches identified through research that can assist transition to adulthood, especially in employment. The project was a European Social Fund (ESF) convergence funded initiative designed to fill a gap in existing provision and to establish what could be delivered through a comprehensive, well-staffed approach to transition support. In many respects it seeks to address some of the problems in transition planning highlighted in research and in policy review documents. The project operated in 9 local authority areas in Wales from 2011 until 2014 and was evaluated throughout by the Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities at Cardiff University. The project was significant in scale and engaged with 1,766 young people over its lifetime.