Introduction

The Scottish Union of Supported Employment is an umbrella organisation for public, private and voluntary bodies interested in supported employment, social inclusion and the changeover from traditional resource centre based day services to programmes in the community. The organisation was established in 1995 and for the next three years was run by volunteers who worked hard to establish an infrastructure, culminating in December 1998 with the award of £138,000 of National Lottery funding.

The last two years have seen an end to Lottery funding and Board members taking a more central role in the development and delivery of the Supported Employment in Scotland. The progress and profile of SUSE continues to increase and there have been a number of exciting developments in the past two years. This has included:

• The creation of this website
• A blueprint for Supported Employment in Scotland
• Equality and Diversity Training for employers and practitioners
• An annual conference
• Four full member network meetings per annum
• Membership of the European Union of Supported Employment

The profile and interest in Supported Employment has never been higher and SUSE are at the forefront of developing and delivering the model to a wider target audience.

Board members are working with the Scottish Government and COSLA (Confederation of Scottish Local Autorities) to develop and deliver the recommendations laid out in the Scottish Executives Equal Opportunities report (Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities)