APPENDIX 14
MEMORANDUM BY EMPLOYERS' FORUM ON DISABILITY
Executive Summary
1. The Employers' Forum on Disability has over 310
major UK employer members, employing 20 per cent of the UK workforce.
It is a unique employer organisation committed to making it easier
for employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled people and
others significantly disadvantaged in the labour market.
2. The Forum welcomes any initiative which simplifies
a complex, largely dysfunctional system and which as a consequence
improves the efficiency of the market for disadvantaged job seekers.
3. The Forum considers that the Single Gateway needs
to be a "gateway to work" and not just a "gateway
to service providers".
4. For a gateway to work to be successful, employer
requirements and expectations need to be built into the system.
5. Evidence would suggest that success requires the
earliest possible direct involvement of employers expediting journey
throughout the process, from identifying job requirements to attracting
job seekers to the Gateway to recruitment and successful induction.
6. Gateway/brokers must be absolutely clear as to
the needs and expectations of the employer and highly skilled
in helping to minimize the risks and costs employers often associated
with having disadvantaged job seekers. Gateways must also be expert
in answering the needs and expectations of the job seeker and
helping to minimize the risks they associate with moving off benefit.
7. Large national employers have different requirements
from small and medium sized employers. Large employers require
excellent consistent delivery across the UK. Small employers do
not have the capacity or inclination to deal with large bureaucracies.
The Gateway needs to meet differing employer needs.
8. The Gateway needs to be measured against employer
needs and satisfaction as well as those of job seekers.
9. In conjunction with Work Structuring Ltd., the
Forum has developed a model for evaluating employment market initiatives.
The job seeker's and employer's journeys are interrelated. The
role of the intermediary or gatekeeper is an essential "brokering
role". It is not an "administrative" or "social
worker" role.
10. Employers, job seekers and the gateway brokers
need to be committed ("signed on"), prepared and fully
engaged before real system improvement will be achieved.
11. Journeys involve risks for job seekers and employers.
Gateway managers need to be mindful of those risks and empowered
to address them as for as possible.
Submission
1. The Employers' Forum on Disability is concerned
with the employment and training of people with disabilities.
It has over 300 employer members drawn from public and private
sectors including manufacturing, services and retail. Funded by
members, it improves the job prospects of disabled people by making
it easier for employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled
employees. It works closely with member organisations through
breakfast briefings, member support lines, publications and seminars.
It has led system wide thinking through a series of Windsor Consultations
involving civil servants, employers, politicians, trades unions
and service providers. The Forum, as the authoritative employers'
voice on disability, supported the introduction of the Disability
Discrimination Act and has been supportive from the outset of
a Commission. Forum members employ around 20 per cent of the UK
workforce. The Forum is not a service provider; it is not a recruitment
or training agency for people with disabilities seeking work.
2. The system for supporting disabled or indeed any
disadvantaged job seeker is complex. Appendix 1 is an analysis
of some of the relevant government and non-government agencies.
This system is constantly changing, as local and national government
organisation and regulations change. Any attempt to simplify the
system is welcomed by the Forum.
3. The objective of the "Single Gateway"
is to ensure that those people who cannot work have security and
prompt payment of benefits is made. For those people who can work,
the Gateway is intended to be a gateway to the employment market.
There is a danger that it could become a gateway to service provision
and not necessarily to work. If its focus is service provision,
including training, education, childcare, healthcare and housing,
as described on p 8 of "A New Contract for Welfare—The
Gateway to Work", and not focused upon employer requirements
in the marketplace, it could add to rather than reduce the complexity.
4. If it is to be a Gateway to Work, it is clear
that employer requirements need to be built in. "The Gateway
To Work" is silent about the role or involvement of employers
in the process. The assumption is that existing brokering services
through the Employment Service or NGOs are efficient and therefore
employer driven. We are not entirely convinced that this is the
case on a consistent basis across the United Kingdom. We consider
that where there is early employer involvement and efficient market
brokering, successful outcomes can be achieved.
5. There is increasing evidence that successful brokers
of disadvantaged people to gain access to, keep and advance in
jobs and careers are those with the capacity to meet the needs
of both employers and job seekers. This conclusion of the Rockefeller
Foundation Report: "Business Participation in Welfare to
Work: Lessons from the United States" is reinforced by New
Deal Projects the Forum has been involved with in both the North
West and South West of England. A gateway driven by employer requirement
focuses on the skills and competencies required by the employer,
who with the support of effective intermediaries match requirements
with the prospective job seekers. The provision of education,
training and other support activities becomes part of a work focused
action plan. Under such arrangements, the journey through the
gateway can be relatively short and the involvement of the intermediary
may continue into employment. It is uncertain whether the Single
Gateway provides this brokerage role.
6. Employers largely do not want to get involved
in the internal organisation of the service providers, such as
the Employment Service. They need to be assured of standards of
performance. Employers do not expect to be involved designing
services except where they are an integral part of the process.
Their involvement is in the specification of their requirements.
Relationship management is also important. The recent innovation
by the Employment Service to have a national account team (The
Large Organisation Unit) has been welcomed. It has helped to strengthen
relationships with employers. The Single Gateway proposals appear
to give little indication as to how employer relationships will
be managed within the Gateway.
7. Membership of the Forum is predominantly large
employers with national coverage. Many of our members are international
companies. Over the past decade recruitment strategies have changed
radically. They seek long term partnering relationships with a
small number of service providers who meet their needs in a consistently
excellent manner across the company. Contracts of employment vary.
8. It is also clear that a large percentage of "new
jobs" are created in the SME (small and medium enterprise)
sector. If service providers supply people with the minimum of
time and "bureaucracy", this sector responds positively.
Our evidence suggests that this sector is positively inclined
to the recruitment of "disadvantaged job seekers" who
are suitably skilled and motivated. All too often services treat
employers as the target or problem. Effective services—and
Gateways—must value the employer (as well as the jobseeker)
as "customer". Meeting employer needs as "customers"
is essential if their potential as partners is to be realised
(Appendix 2).
9. The Forum considers that measurement of success
in employer terms is essential. Too often the output measures
are solely in terms of people achieving work. Whilst this is important,
if the Gateway has been created to provide a service to employers,
success needs to measured against their expectations. We have
been involved in the last 12 months with innovative projects,
which have begun with the employer rather than the job seeker
requirement. In one, a single large employer made a commitment
to recruit a number of disadvantaged job seekers—predominantly
disabled or carers. In another project, a service provider went
to employers and based upon their need to retain people with disabilities
"at risk", designed a programme to support those employers.
In both cases success measures have been designed around the employer
objectives. More importantly measurement has included process
measures as well as output measures. The processes did not only
include how the service providers delivered their service but
also how the employers' recruitment and retention processes were
designed and could be improved. It is not clear the extent to
which the Single Gateway will be measured against employer needs
and expectations.
10. We have developed, in consultation, a model for
evaluating employment market initiatives. This is shown at Appendix
3. This shows the interrelationship of the job seekers and prospective
employer "journeys". The intermediary or gatekeeper
is essentially a broker and will have sophisticated skills. They
need to understand the world of work in their marketplace intimately.
They need to have established relationships with local employers
and achieved their trust and confidence. They need to understand
the job seekers requirements in terms that are relevant to the
marketplace. They need to be able to facilitate adjustments to
employment. The role is neither administrative nor one of "social
worker" to the disadvantaged job seeker. It is one of an
effective broker. There are currently a number of "pilots"
being carried out into "Personal Advisor Services" for
Lone Parents and People with Disabilities. There will be benefit
from drawing together lessons from these pilots and the Single
Gateway Pilots to finally nail down the "brokering role"
and the consequent skills and competencies required to fulfil
this crucial function. Note that at the moment no training or
accreditation is available to such brokers.
11. Going through the gateway for both employers
and prospective job seekers has its potential rewards and risks.
The Single Gateway pilots focus upon the potential rewards for
the job seeker of moving out of benefit into self-reliance. Over
the last 12 months, Secretaries of State have spoken about the
1 million disabled benefit claimants who can work, want to work
and have a right to work. The Single Gateway may cast light on
the underlying reasons as to why this group of people does not
actively participate in the market. Our evidence suggests that
fear of losing important benefits may be at the heart of this
problem. Confidence that the process will result in real sustainable
employment clearly will have a strong "pull through"
effect. Government may also need to look further at removing links
between benefit payment and employment market participation and
provision of cash flow bridges between benefit and employment.
12. In summary, the Forum welcomes any initiative
which will result in the improvement in the efficiency of the
market for disadvantaged people, a large percentage of whom are
disabled. We have concerns that the Single Gateway could become
just a Gateway to Services rather than jobs. For it to be a Gateway
to Jobs, the process needs to attractive to both employers and
job seekers. If that is achieved the pilots will play a significant
contribution to the improvement of the system.
Annex 1 The Disability Employment System*
Annex 2 The Employers' Journey*
Annex 3 Preconditions of Success*
Annex 4 Background Information on Employers' Forum
on Disability*
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