APPENDIX 12
Memorandum submitted by Bury Employment
Support and Training (EDP 18)
SUMMARY
Many disabled people have been systematically
denied access to the UK labour market. This has resulted from
a lack of confidence within services and low expectations from
disabled people and their carers.
Jobcentre Plus has a clear role to signpost
people towards appropriate provision but their effectiveness in
providing services directly has been patchy and has concentrated
on people with long-term health problems, physical disabilities
and mild learning disabilities. Access to Work has proved to be
a valuable tool for assisting employees and employers while WORKSTEP
provides a model for future support mechanisms.
The introduction of New Deal for Disabled People
has been mismanaged and did not build on learning from pilots.
The programme is unable to support people with longer-term support
needs.
There is no reason why private companies cannot
make a substantial contribution to assisting disabled people into
work. However, adequate safeguards would have to be in place to
prevent a "production-line" attitude to work placement.
The tax credit and benefits system is complex
and not as user friendly as the Disabled Working Allowance. However,
it offers a valuable opportunity for employees to work on a part-time
basis.
Discrimination results from ignorance as much
as prejudice. If services and organisations do not support an
expectation that disabled people will work, then how can we expect
employers to carry the torch?
The Disability Discrimination Act has done more
than any other initiative to encourage the employment of people
with a disability.
1. EMPLOYMENT
LEVELS
It is widely recognised that people with a disability
are under-represented in the labour market. While the overall
employment rate is 48%, there are wide variations between different
disability groups. For instance, it is accepted that the employment
rate drops to 19% for people with enduring mental health problems.
A number of groups have even poorer access to employment. A tour
around any day centre will reveal service users who are not aware
of who can help them gain employment. The chances are that the
staff will not have heard of New Deal, of Work Preparation schemes,
of WORKSTEP providers, or even of the Disability Employment Advisor.
Here are the many people hidden from the labour market—those
people in a career of "rehabilitation" and "daycare".
2. EXPECTATIONS
It is difficult to generalise about an issue
such as employment but we know it is a critical indicator of quality
of life and to integration within society. Our education and training
system prepares people for an economically independent lifestyle
and much has been said by employers and others regarding how effectively
it achieves this. For disabled children, the fact is that many
teachers, parents and supporting organisations do not believe
that employment is a future option for pupils and students. Despite
the introduction of the Learning & Skills Councils, Connexions
Partnerships and Joint Investment Plans, there is a feeling that
little will change on the ground unless there is a massive cultural
shift within these organisations. The creation of a transition
Plan does not necessarily guarantee that it will be implemented
or monitored. It does not mean that individuals will not drop
out of the system in their mid-20s as many do now. One of the
key lessons to be learnt is that disabled people may always need
an element of support to ensure their retention within employment.
A job started does not necessarily equate to a job retained.
3. GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENTS
The Department for Work and Pensions is the
natural place to look for co-ordination and leadership on employment
issues. Unfortunately, it is not quite so straightforward. There
is great confusion between the Department of Work and Pensions
and the Department of Health about who co-ordinates on employment
for disabled people. We have the Welfare to Work Joint Investment
Plan, which focuses exclusively on the employment needs of disabled
people. The issue of employment strategy is also contained within
the National Service Framework for people with mental health problems
and the Valuing People White Paper for people with a learning
disability. There is a welter of advisory groups and inter-departmental
meetings that are supposed to advise on policy. There are regular
consultations, pilot initiatives, European projects and so on.
Surprising then that little seems to change for most people with
a disability. There is a clear impression from the outside that
the DoH is trying to transfer this employment interest to the
Department for Work and Pensions. From the DWP, there is a clear
impression that there are at least two interest camps—one
for New Deal and one for WORKSTEP. I have to say that I am firmly
in the WORKSTEP camp.
4. JOBCENTRE
PLUS
Jobcentre Plus is the most visible support mechanism
for anyone seeking employment. Each jobcentre has access to a
Disability Employment Advisor (DEA). These used to located in
teams, offering support to each other across a district. They
have now been integrated into individual jobcentres in the North
West and each has a different management arrangement. It is difficult
to see how this will benefit disabled jobseekers or the DEAs.
DEAs are the main gateway to services such as the popular Access
to Work scheme. This scheme works remarkably well though there
are regional variations in how it is interpreted. Other Jobcentre
Plus initiatives such as the Work Preparation contracts are less
successful. These tendered schemes cover large areas to make contract
management easier. Unfortunately, this also means that they are
often delivered by organisations with no local presence and very
few people find out about them. It also has to be said that there
is considerable speculation as to just how useful these schemes
are. I believe in "Place & Train" rather than "Train
& Place" and I think there needs to be much greater monitoring
of the effectiveness of these prepartation schemes as so much
money is tied up in them. Exit routes such as Supported Employment,
on the other hand, are employing temporary staff from year to
year on a mixture of local authority funds, European money and
charity. Surely this is something that should be concerning the
DWP.
5. NEW DEAL
New Deal pilots were launched amongst a great
deal of anger and confusion. The random assignment system of evaluation
(since quietly dropped) alienated many local authority providers.
Individual payment rates were negotiated that varied from £2,000
to £5,000 per outcome. Providers in ONE pilot areas were
told they could not tender only to find out that contracts were
awarded within these areas anyway. The national rollout pre-empted
the publication of external evaluation, which was itself of dubious
value, of pilot areas. Contractors have withdrawn and been replaced
by invitation rather than tender. New Deal in its basic form does
not offer sufficient funding to provide ongoing support and it
is clearly aimed at the "walking wounded" rather than
people with significant disabilities.
6. WORKSTEP
WORKSTEP has been universally welcomed amongst
providers of supported employment. It offers an opportunity to
fund longer-term support for people and allows a funded exit from
education, training or work experience. It has a clearly identifiable
structure that builds on evidence-based practice and it offers
the flexibility to fund support or subsidise employers.
7. PUBLIC VS.
PRIVATE
If someone is offered a pathway to employment,
then it should not matter whether a private or public provider
is offering them it. What counts is how effective it is. Does
it lead to a job? Is that job retained? Does the employer have
access to support?
8. TAX CREDITS
AND BENEFITS
The tax credit system has a lot of potential
but is complex. I think the old system for Disabled Working Allowance
was more user-friendly but working tax credits are more inclusive.
The Inland Revenue does not appear to be as approachable or helpful
as the DWA Agency used to be but experience may change this. There
are too many points to cover in detail here but I think there
needs to be a removal of the 16 hour rule for people with a disability.
People can work for an hour a week or 45 hours a week—it's
all work. What we need is a way of rewarding this involvement
and encouraging participation. I would hope that there should
be a way of tapering tax credits and benefit levels so that the
issue of permitted work is gone and people are able to work the
number of hours that they feel capable of. At the moment everything
revolves around the five hours or so per week that people can
do under the disregard or working over 16 hours per week. There
should be a way of allowing work without such extreme cut-off
points.
9. DISCRIMINATION
There is undeniably a lot of discrimination
within the workplace. Disabled people experience this as do people
from other cultural backgrounds. What disturbs me however is that
much of it is avoidable. In my work with employers, it quickly
became clear that ignorance is one of the greatest factors preventing
the employment of disabled people. The employers told me that
the single most important thing to prevent this in the future
would be to have inclusive education. Beyond that we must continue
to raise awareness and project positive imagery but at the end
of the day, the best counter measure to this ignorance is to have
a disabled person in the workplace because then everyone gets
to know the employee as Fred or Sally and not as a disabled person.
10. DDA
Providers such as us have warmly welcomed the
Disability Discrimination Act. It is important that the employment
aspects apply to all employers rather than those employing over
15 people. It is clear that employers have been scared into action
by the Act and are now much more careful in how they employ people.
However, when things do go wrong, it is very difficult for the
aggrieved worker to access legal advice and start proceedings
against the employer. Most do not want to do this as they have
been distressed enough by their experiences. This means that poor
employers tend to go unpunished. The more that this happens then
the more that the Act will be held in disrepute.
Huw Davies
Manager
6 January 2003
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