APPENDIX 7
Letter to Committee from the Scottish
Union of Supported Employment (EDP 10)
I am writing to you on behalf of the Scottish
Union of Supported Employment (SUSE) regarding the e-mail we received
on 7 November with information on the Work and Pensions Select
Committee review of employment opportunities for people with disabilities
This is an issue that is directly related to
the work of SUSE and we have undertaken much campaigning work
in this area over the past six months.
The background to the organisation is that SUSE
is an umbrella organisation for 93 organisations in Scotland involved
or interested in Supported Employment or Social Inclusion issues.
The membership comprises of almost all Scottish local authorities,
all the major voluntary organisations involved in supported employment,
NHS Trusts, Further Education Colleges and representatives from
the private sector. Such a wide representation of disability organisations
means we have substantial in-depth knowledge of the needs of,
and problems faced, by disabled jobseekers.
Since 1999 SUSE has been funded by the Community
Fund and will continue to be funded by them until 2005. The Scottish
Union of Supported Employment provides a range of services to
its members which include:
— Annual National Conferences.
— Quarterly general meetings held throughout
Scotland.
— Subsidised training programmes and
seminars.
— Regular information mailings.
— Website, including a discussion forum
(www.suse.org.uk).
— A National Co-ordinator providing
a point of contact and an information service.
SUSE also hosted the Fifth Conference of the
European Union of Supported Employment which was held in Edinburgh
in March, 2001. This international event was attended by 620 delegates
from 37 countries and provided a variety of speakers and workshops
related to employment issues for disabled people.
Part of our strategic plan for 2002-03 is to
tackle the issues pertinent to your proposed enquiry and to this
end much lobbying has been undertaken with letters raising our
concerns to MPs, MSPs, government departments, etc., including
Archy Kirkwood and David Stewart who both sit on the select committee.
I have included copies of our letters to MPs,
[6]etc.
of 6 June and 24 July, which I hope will highlight the serious
concerns SUSE has regarding:
— The funding, or lack of it, available
for disabled jobseekers.
— Our concerns regarding the way many
government programmes are fragmented and inefficient.
— Our concerns that the programmes
do not always reach the target audience.
— The real concerns that SUSE, its
membership and the client group have concerning unemployment/incapacity
benefits and the barriers these benefits put in the way of disabled
jobseekers.
With such a wide range of knowledge and experience
within SUSE I believe we will have much to provide to the enquiry
and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
AREAS OF
PARTICULAR INTEREST
TO THE
SCOTTISH UNION
OF SUPPORTED
EMPLOYMENT
1. High Numbers Claiming Incapacity Benefit
This is an area of great concern to many members
of The Scottish Union of Supported Employment. Over the past decade
when governments wanted to massage unemployment figures many people
with disabilities were encouraged to claim Incapacity Benefit
as they were then deemed to be sick rather than unemployed. Not
only does this reinforce society's opinion that disability and
ill health are the same thing but can lead to great unfairness
among the disabled community. There is evidence to show that within
similar situations you can have one person with a disability receiving
Incapacity Benefit while another person with a similar disability
is receiving Income Support and a much smaller income.
We feel that benefits for people with disabilities
should be rationalised to ensure each person's personal income
is equitable and that the benefit system is simplified to make
it easier for individuals to achieve personal goals and a release
from dependence on the state.
2. The Role of Jobcentre + and the Department
for Work and Pensions
Many agencies have grave concerns about the
way in which Jobcentre + operates in relation to disabled jobseekers.
There are areas of Scotland where unemployment is at its lowest
for a generation, ie Edinburgh, where unemployment is approximately
2%. An overt indication of the low rate is the number of wholesale
and retail outlets that are presently advertising for staff.
In this environment where the recruitment of
personnel is at a premium, people with disabilities should be
seen as a priority and individuals given every assistance to find
work. Jobcentre + has a real role to play in encouraging employers
to provide opportunities for disabled jobseekers and to ensure
that employers are given every assistance to formulate policies
that encourage disabled people to take jobs.
There is also a benefit to the Government and
society in putting resources into this policy in reduced benefit
payments, increased spending power and increased taxation and
national insurance.
There are also real concerns regarding the Workstep
programme. Since the early eighties this programme has been a
great success and has continued to develop and modernise. Unfortunately
there is now a real worry that the importance put on progression
into open employment will encourage agencies to look at the more
able jobseekers to the detriment of the less able. The original
concept of assisting those who would be unlikely to be able to
hold down open employment is being sacrificed to the altar of
progression and while there may be an argument that people with
a learning disability are able to progress to open employment
the new rules may make it more difficult for those with a deteriorating
disability such as muscular dystrophy or rheumatoid arthritis
or people with long term mental health problems to get access
to the programme.
3. The Tax Credit and Benefit System
No matter how much proponents of supported employment
try to concentrate on the needs and aspirations of people with
disabilities, in many cases the major barrier to employment is
the benefit system. The system may only be a perceived barrier
but, nonetheless, for disabled jobseekers, their parents, carers
and support workers it is seen as a complex and unwieldy system
that offers security when in receipt of a benefit, insecurity
when in a job does not work out and the person has to make a further
claim.
A recent reply from the Department for Work
and Pensions said that if a person on Incapacity Benefit went
in to a job and it did not work out, the two-year linking rule
would allow them to come back on to their original benefit. Now
that sounds fine, but unfortunately five paragraphs later the
same letter states that everyone's circumstances are different
and there can be no guarantees. This, in effect, means there is
no guarantee for anyone, as no agency will tell a client they
can return to their benefit if the Department for Work and Pensions
will not even give this guarantee. This situation is the ultimate
turn-off when considering work.
4. Summation
Among the many radical changes that can be implemented,
more access to employment through supported employment, early
intervention for young people moving from education to adulthood
and a radical change in philosophy from segregated services to
opportunities in the community will not only bring about a fairer
society but will also be beneficial in terms of savings on welfare
benefits and the cost of upkeep of resource centres, etc.
These are just some of the concerns that the
Scottish Union of Supported Employment and its membership share
in relation to employment for people with disabilities and we
would wish a further opportunity to state our case to the select
committee.
Dave Kelbie
National Co-ordinator
29 December 2002
6 Not printed. Back
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