This study evaluates the implementation and delivery of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in drug and alcohol treatment services in England, with a focus on identifying barriers and enablers of effective delivery as IPS approaches full national coverage. This study draws on workshops, interviews, surveys, case studies, and desk research, engaging IPS clients, team members, commissioners, treatment staff and wider stakeholders.

Evaluation of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in community drug and alcohol treatment services

Madeline Nightingale, Kankan Zhang, Andy Perkins, Joanne Neale, Olatz Ribera Almandoz, Emily Hutton, Bhavya Singh

ResearchPublished Sep 16, 2025

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidence-based, highly individualised model of employment support, originally developed for people receiving treatment for severe mental illness. Following promising results from the IPS-AD trial in England (2018–2020), the 2021 UK Drug Strategy committed to achieving full coverage of IPS in drug and alcohol treatment services by March 2025.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), part of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) commissioned RAND Europe, Figure 8 and King's College London to conduct an evaluation of the scale-up of IPS in drug and alcohol treatment in England. The aim of this study is to evaluate the implementation and delivery of IPS at a national scale and to inform service improvement, drawing on learnings and knowledge of good practice from more experienced IPS teams. The evaluation examines how IPS has been delivered in the drug and alcohol treatment context, with a focus on identifying barriers and enablers of effective delivery. Taking a realist approach, a Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) framework is developed and tested. The evaluation draws on workshops, interviews, surveys, case studies, and desk research, engaging IPS clients, team members, commissioners, treatment staff, and wider stakeholders. All IPS teams operating for six months or longer were invited to participate, with in-depth qualitative research conducted in ten case-study areas.

Key Findings

  • The goal of achieving national coverage is very close to being met, with 145 out of 151 local authorities delivering IPS. The scale of IPS delivery in England supports peer-to-peer networking and the sharing of good practice both within and beyond the drug and alcohol treatment context. In some areas, peer-to-peer networking and support is facilitated at the provider and/or local level, the latter bringing together IPS teams embedded in different treatment services.
  • It takes time to embed IPS in treatment services, but most IPS teams in drug and alcohol treatment report achieving a high level of integration. Team members use various strategies to raise awareness of IPS and challenge any misconceptions held by some treatment staff about the role of employment in recovery. Sharing data and personal studies about clients who have secured and sustained work was highlighted as an effective strategy in encouraging referrals to the IPS service.
  • Contextual factors affect the ability of IPS teams to help secure positive outcomes for clients, including the maturity of the IPS service, previous experience of IPS delivery, the local labour market context and factors relating to the institutional set up of IPS in local areas. IPS is widely perceived to have benefits for clients beyond employment including improved treatment outcomes, greater confidence and self-belief, and financial independence. The attributes, knowledge and skills of IPS team members are crucial to the programme's success, but time-limited funding makes recruitment and retention more challenging.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Office for Health Improvement and Disparities
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2025
  • Pages: 166
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA3950-1
  • Document Number: RR-A3950-1

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Nightingale, Madeline, Kankan Zhang, Andy Perkins, Joanne Neale, Olatz Ribera Almandoz, Emily Hutton, and Bhavya Singh, Evaluation of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in community drug and alcohol treatment services. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3950-1.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and conducted by RAND Europe.

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