APPENDIX 24
Memorandum submitted by the Local Government
Association (EDP 33)
1. The Local Government Association (LGA)
is the representative body for all local authorities in England
and Wales. It welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Select
Committee's inquiry on this important issue. The evidence below
is structured as a response to the specific questions set out
in the Committee's press release dated 7 November 2002 and is
based on a consultation with LGA member authorities. The response
from authorities has been good reflecting the high level of interest
in this subject.
SUMMARY
A. The term "hidden unemployment"
needs unpacking. While about 30% of people on incapacity-based
benefits want to work, it would be easy to overstate the "job
readiness" of those claiming IB as many people on long term
IB are a long way from paid employment facing the common employability
barriers of competence, skills, abilities, lack of confidence,
transport etc. The lack of availability of appropriate local jobs
and retraining support are important factors, as well as discrimination
on grounds of disability and age. The LGA has a vision of how
to achieve full employment through local employment alliances,
job creation policies and skills and training measures, and local
flexibilities in deprived areas.
B. Jobseekers Allowance and Incapacity Benefit
are each held at poverty levels, which compound health problems
and participation in local communities and work-based effort.
Because of poverty trap effects, there is often very little reward
for efforts to take people towards work. The wider concern is
that the system should be as interested in helping people to move
towards part-time or voluntary work, skills, qualifications and
participation, as it is in the focus on full-time work at present.
C. The Incapacity Benefit rules do not seem
to acknowledge the real dilemmas that claimants face in making
the choices to move into work. It is not administered in a supportive
way but requires people to take risks when engaging in any work-related
activity. There remains a strong perception that if you come off
IB and go into work you will lose benefit entitlement should the
job not work out for whatever reason.
D. Jobcentre Plus should be facilitating
full access to appropriate help and advice and providing a sensitive
service which provides the financial security people need, when
sick, unemployed and/or on a pathway towards work. Concerns are
about the limited skills and capacity of Jobcentre Plus to get
the basic benefits and support right, their need for more training
and awareness, inadequate staffing levels and the need for better
local and national liaison and co-operation. The Disability Employment
Advisers and Action Teams for Jobs have been good resources, and
they should be expanded. The outreach contracts for independent
services for Black and Minority Ethnic customers are a promising
step forward.
E. Initiatives such as Workstep have potential
to make a difference although there are ways that they could be
made more effective eg by reducing the 16 hour minimum working
week to eight and by merging the administration or Workstep with
Access to Work.
F. The New Deal for Disabled People programme
has tended to work for clients with a very mild learning disability,
but has worked much less well for people with a more complex need
or moderate to severe learning disability due to the lack of intensive
support in the workplace. The experience of local authorities
has shown that a large proportion of people with a learning disability
are excluded from the New Deal Schemes because of the emphasis
is towards 16+ hours. These issues may also apply to people with
mental health problems, a sensory impairment or a physical disability.
The New Deal for Disabled People has a system of Job Brokers.
However, referral arrangements and outreach efforts need to be
improved.
G. We encourage the role of good public
services and not-for-profit specialist employment, advice and
support agencies. Benefit advice services are an essential part
of this. Claimants often prefer independent services, as they
recognise that independent services do not put their existing
benefits at risk and have the experience to give comprehensive,
sensitive advice on all benefits issues. The issue is also about
providing disabled people with a proper range of choices about
whether they prefer a specific disability specialist service,
a general disability specialist service, or a mainstream service
with proper awareness and access. However, thought will need to
be given to how funding is structured to ensure that referral
processes do not allow "cherry picking" and further
exclusion for those who are harder to help. One way in which the
private sector could be encouraged is through the work of private
recruitment agencies.
H. Programmes of support should definitely
focus on the individual needs rather than the disabilitylooking
at ability and potential ability firsthowever, organisations
providing support need to ensure they have staff that understand
a wide range of disabilities and continually invest in staff development.
However, representation submitted to the LGA has shown that the
requirements of people with complex needs and a moderate to severe
learning disability are currently not adequately catered for by
either the under-resourced public sector or the projects promoted
by the government such as New Deal.
I. Assistance for disabled people moving
into work includes addressing complicated benefit issues and the
need for specialised, high quality employment advice, guidance
and support. As well as looking at incentives to move into full-time
work, strategy must also provide advice on how benefits are affected
by steps or pathways towards work, such as part-time work, training,
study or voluntary work. Current benefit laws and practices can
penalise or under-reward people who take steps towards work, or
who take up full-time work. The benefit barriers include financial
disincentives, the pressures of income disruption and delays and
risks placed on existing benefits, such as possible review of
Disability Living Allowance.
J. The submissions from local authorities
support the view that many employers will not consider employing
people with disabilities through ignorance and fear and that discrimination
at the recruitment stage will affect the chances of many people
with disabilities.
K. Lack of knowledge among employers of
the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act is a problem
as is fear of litigation or tribunals. Further publicity and guidance
could help. Many employers hold onto rigid work requirements.
Their inflexibility and anxieties mean that they will not fairly
consider taking on disabled applicants. There is a strong need
to support the development of social firms and Intermediate Labour
Markets. These also contribute to local economies and regeneration.
L. There is much that can be learned from
experience abroad eg the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service in
Australia which operates a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation team
of case managers engaged in assessing rehabilitation needs and
providing programmes (via the commissioning of services) to promote
independence and/or access employment.
DO THE
HIGH NUMBERS
CLAIMING INCAPACITY
BENEFIT REPRESENT
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENT?
2. Local authorities and their partners
working in the field of employment policy differ greatly on this
issue and the question needs unpacking. National research identified
through Job Centre Plus supports the view that around 30% of Incapacity
Benefit (IB) recipients wish to work. The issue for these people
is really whether the work they are able to do is available, and
whether the working environment would be sufficiently supportive
for them to take the risk. Moreover the benefits trap also comes
into play, particularly for people only able to work limited hours
who could find themselves worse off, or little better off, as
a result. Almost 50% of people on Incapacity Benefit also get
Income Support. In addition, a significant number of people also
get means-tested Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit. Overall
this means that a good majority of IB claimants are caught by
the limited earnings disregard of £20 a week and then high
"marginal tax rates" of 85-100%. This means that there
is often very little reward for efforts to take people towards
work. In local authorities the vast majority of people on the
sick who we see are caught by these low earning disregards and
tapers.
HIDDEN UNEMPLOYMENTTHE
EAST MIDLANDS
EXAMPLE
A recent report (200?) carried out by the Centre
for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam
University presents new estimates of "hidden" or "real"
unemployment in the East Midlands. Key findings are that the real
level of unemployment in the region was nearly three times higher
than the claimant count at a real rate of 8.8% (January 2002)
compared to a claimant level of 3.2%. The difference represents
an estimated 123,000 hidden unemployed.
Across the East Midlands in August 2001, 105,000
men and 71,000 women of working age were claiming Incapacity Benefit
or Severe Disablement Allowance. However the geographical spread
of claimants is not uniform across the region but is concentrated
in areas, which have experienced large-scale job losses in the
1980's and 1990's, especially from traditional industries and
have faced significant unemployment problems for many years. Leicester,
Nottingham and Derby stand out as having high levels compared
to their surrounding districts.
3. Jobseekers Allowance and Incapacity Benefit
are each held at poverty levels, which compound health problems
and participation in local communities and work-based effort.
We want to see JSA increased and that Incapacity Benefit, or Income
Support with a disability premium, should in addition recognise
extra costs due to disability or ill health. There is a continuum
between those who cannot work at all, due to ill health or disability,
through to those who could work in a particular type of work,
if available. The test of incapacitythe Personal Capability
Assessmentis a blunt cut-off point and is widely experienced
as punitive and unrealistic. It has points scores which claimants
often have little confidence in. Job loss has fallen disproportionately
on less healthy workers, many of whom are older and less skilled.
There are also those who feel that work is not financially an
optionthis in part may not be true but because of the complexity
(or perceived complexity) of the benefit/tax credit system, people
will not engage with Jobcentre plus or other support agencies
for fear of losing benefits. A wider concern is that the system
should be as interested in helping people to move towards part-time
or voluntary work, skills, qualifications and participation, as
it is in the focus on full-time work at present. In addition,
the LGA has a vision of how to achieve full employment through
local employment alliances, job creation policies and skills and
training measures, and local flexibilities in deprived areas.
For example, this is set out in the documents Beyond the New
Deal: A new approach to local employment policy, Helping the Hardest
to Reach into Work and Joining It Up: Tackling Unemployment Locally
(copies of these documents will be submitted to the Committee
under separate cover). [20]These
reports include examples of the community leadership role taken
by local authorities, working in partnership to promote employment
for hard-to-reach groups.
4. The Incapacity Benefit rules do not seem
to acknowledge the real dilemmas that claimants face in making
the choices to move into work. It is not administered in a supportive
way but requires people to take risks when engaging in any work-related
activity. There remains a strong perception that if you come off
IB and go into work you will lose benefit entitlement should the
job not work out for whatever reason.
5. However it would be easy to overstate
the "job readiness" of those claiming IB as many people
on long term IB are a long way from paid employment. In addition
to their disability, they face the common employability barriers
of competence, skills, abilities, lack of confidence, transport
etc. Although some may wish to work they need intensive support
to get there on a one-to-one basis, which can absorb a great deal
of resources.
6. Within the client group of people with
learning disabilities the readiness for work is even more unlikely.
More often than not it will be necessary to encourage such clients
to believe that they can earn any moneylots of people with
learning disabilities still believe that "I can't earn because
my benefits will get stopped". Also because lots of people
have some support from parents/carers/social workers etc this
support would hopefully ensure that people's work was supervised
and Job Centre Plus was informed in the appropriate manner. For
the majority of the client group getting any work is difficult,
so they would be unlikely to be doing any work without an employment
support agency involved.
7. The Government is obviously and quite
rightly concerned with reducing the numbers of people on incapacity
related benefits and encouraging more people back to work. However
for people with a more moderate to severe learning disability
they are unlikely to be able to reach the hours needed to be worked
each week yet have just as much to offer the world of work and
just as much right to work. This would seem to be echoed by the
recent government white paper "Valuing Peoplea Strategy
for Learning Disability in the 21st Century" and the Disability
Discrimination Act.
WHAT IS,
OR SHOULD
BE, THE
ROLE OF
JOBCENTRE PLUS?
ARE THEY
DOING ENOUGH
ACTIVELY TO
ENGAGE PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES
IN FINDING
SUITABLE WORK?
ARE INITIATIVES
SUCH AS
WORKSTEP SUCCESSFUL?
8. The role of Job Centre Plus should include
signposting people towards relevant services available to suit
their individual needs. This generally happens for people where
they may be suited to a service such as a New Deal provider or
Work Step. If people have additional needs or want to explore
more voluntary or work experience options first, but their long-term
prospects are limited to paid work of just a few hours a week
or casual paid work, then there are far fewer places to signpost
people to.
9. Jobcentre Plus should be facilitating
full access to appropriate help and advice and providing a sensitive
service which provides the financial security people need, when
sick, unemployed and/or on a pathway towards work. Concerns are
about the limited skills and capacity of Jobcentre Plus to get
the basic benefits and support right, their need for more training
and awareness, inadequate staffing levels and the need for better
local and national liaison and co-operation. The Disability Employment
Advisers have been a good resource, and they should be expanded,
as envisaged in the Green Paper. Action Team for Jobs have brought
improved out-reach, but may be at risk if mainstreamed. The outreach
contracts for independent services for Black and Minority Ethnic
customers are a promising step forwardgiven the limited
previous effortsbut are at a very early stage. Evidence
submitted to the LGA has confirmed that Jobcentre Plus is going
through a transition and cultural change, that the role of Disability
Employment Advisors (DEAs) is also changing and consequently,
it can be hard for partners and customers to understand the position.
10. In addition, local authorities have
argued that initiatives such as Workstep would be improved if
the 16 hour minimum work/week where reduced to eight hours as
many people with disabilities wanting to access the world of work
are either caught in the benefits trap or due to the nature of
their disability are unable to actually work 16 hours or more.
It has been suggested that people with degenerative disabilities
or retention cases should not be included in progression figures
as it is highly unlikely they will progress to unsupported employment
due to the nature of their disability although they would benefit
from the support offered through the Workstep initiative.
11. A clear view of local authorities active
in this area is that a system whereby the same provider operates
across a range of schemes: Work preparation, New Deal for Disabled
People and Workstep is likely to be the most efficient. Disabled
people are then able to receive an expert assessment which ensures
that the right programme is identified for them at the outset.
12. Access to Work is seen as a programme
with great potential but with crucial limitations eg it can only
be used when you have a job and not at the crucial time you are
trying to demonstrate to employers you would be able to do a job.
Also, consideration could be given to putting the administration
of the Access to Work programme with Workstep providers as this
would provide a more streamlined service. When addressing the
needs of people who want to work more than four hours bur less
than 16 assistance via Access to work should be provided.
THE NEW
DEAL FOR
DISABLED PEOPLE
PROGRAMME: HAVE
THE LESSONS
BEEN LEARNED
FROM THE
EARLIER PILOTS?
HOW MIGHT
IT BE
MADE MORE
EFFECTIVE?
13. Several of the local authorities responding
to the inquiry have clients who have tried the New Deal for Disabled
People (NDDP) programme with varying degrees of success. NDDP
has tended to work for clients with a very mild learning disability,
but has worked much less well for people with a more complex need
or moderate to severe learning disability due to the lack of intensive
support in the workplace. These issues may also apply to people
with mental health problems, a sensory impairment or a physical
disability.
14. Some people take several months of intensive
support to learn a new job and then may only be able to work for
two-four hours a week either due to their complexity of need or
other issues such as their housing situation. Working over 16
hours as NDDP intends would at the moment make clients ineligible
for their main benefits. Financially they may be in a similar
situation, but losing these benefits would lose them their entitlement
to live in a residential home or supported living. Whilst a few
people may be capable of doing over 16 hours a week at work in
an appropriate job, these same people may not be capable of living
independently and managing all their everyday affairs such as
shopping, household bills etc. Working over 16 hours could severely
affect their quality of health and lead to them getting into many
problems with their everyday life. Therefore the experience of
the local authorities responding to the inquiry indicates that
a large proportion of people with a learning disability are excluded
from the New Deal Schemes because of the emphasis is towards 16+
hours.
15. There is still also work to do with
the relationship and partnership management with regard to who
does what for the client in the New Deal programme. The model
where a client has an NDDP advisor, a DEA and a Provider requires
careful management to avoid confusion for the customer. The New
Deal for Disabled People has a system of Job Brokers. However,
referral arrangements and outreach efforts need to be improved.
WHAT IS
THE ROLE
OF THE
PRIVATE SECTOR
IN DELIVERING
EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
FOR PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES
AND HEALTH
PROBLEMS?
16. We encourage the role of good public
services and not-for-profit specialist employment, advice and
support agencies. The particular Local Authority contribution
includes improved attention to welfare-to work for disabled people
within Local Strategic Plans, Social Services and joint provision,
regeneration efforts, welfare rights services, welfare-to-work
advice initiatives and linkworker advice services for Black and
Ethnic Minority community and refugee communities. Proper funding
streams, empathetic services, participation and consultation with
disabled people and building on best practice are key. Finances
are a key issue for people considering moves into work. Benefit
advice services are an essential part of this. Claimants often
prefer independent services, as they recognise that independent
services do not put their existing benefits at risk and have the
experience to give comprehensive, sensitive advice on all benefits
issues. The issue is also about providing disabled people with
a proper range of choices about whether they prefer a specific
disability specialist service, a general disability specialist
service, or a mainstream service with proper awareness and access.
However, thought will need to be given to how funding is structured
to ensure that referral processes do not allow "cherry picking"
and further exclusion for those who are harder to help. In engaging
agencies an approach that favours increased "throughput"
will lead to pressure to maximise the flow of clients. For example,
people with milder learning disabilities will be seen as more
likely to get the outcomes needed for funding. Whilst outcomes
are based on figures provided by the organisations wanting funding,
organisations are still aware of numbers and throughput so recognise
that if they concentrate on more severe learning disabilities
and therefore keep their numbers of new starts low because existing
referrals need an intensive service for a long period of time,
then they will not look as appealing as a service that processes
many new starts with a high number of eight hours + outcomes due
to working with more able people. Following the approach above,
should agencies be engaged to move those closer to the labour
market into work quickly, then recognition and increased funding
support will need to be given to those in local authorities who
will be left to work with more challenging disability issues.
17. One way in which the private sector
could be encouraged to get more involved is through the work of
private recruitment agencies. These agencies have significant
exposure to a range of employers and could be given greater encouragement
to spread the word on the benefits of employing disabled people
and the support available to do so. It is important that this
approach is encouraged in order that brokerage work becomes mainstreamed
rather than being viewed by employers as a minority or specialist
issue.
ARE THE
NEEDS OF
PARTICULAR GROUPS
OF PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES
AND HEALTH
PROBLEMS ADEQUATELY
CARED FOR?
SHOULD EMPLOYMENT
PROJECTS BE
MORE INCLUSIVE
AND ADAPT
TO INDIVIDUAL
NEED RATHER
THAN BE
AIMED AT
PEOPLE WITH
SPECIFIC DISABILITIES?
18. Programmes of support should definitely
focus on the individual needs rather than the disabilitylooking
at ability and potential ability firsthowever, organisations
providing support need to ensure they have staff that understand
a wide range of disabilities and continually invest in staff development.
19. The requirements of people with complex
needs and a moderate to severe learning disability are not adequately
catered for by either the under-resourced public sector or the
projects promoted by the government such as New Deal as already
stated throughout these answers.
20. Employment projects should be more inclusive
to a specific disability. Different client groups vary hugely
so if a project supports people with a specific disability it
can focus on the needs of its client group. However they should
be inclusive to all people within that client grouppeople
are discriminated against and pigeon-holed enough already without
projects for a specific client group adding further criteria so
that a client finds that they do not fit in there. Everyone has
something to offer, and it is necessary to challenge preconceived
ideas regarding what having a job actually meansis someone
holding down a job for 37 hours a week any more worthy than someone
else with a moderate to severe learning disability and complex
needs holding down a voluntary or paid job for two-four hours
a week? It may have taken just as much effort, motivation and
determination for that individual to get there.
THE TAX
CREDIT AND
BENEFITS SYSTEM:
IS IT
TOO COMPLEX
FOR THE
CIRCUMSTANCES FACED
BY PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES?
SHOULD IT
BE REFORMED
TO REDUCE
FINANCIAL DISINCENTIVES
TO FIND
WORK?
21. Assistance for disabled people moving
into work includes addressing complicated benefit issues and the
need for specialised, high quality employment advice, guidance
and support. As well as looking at incentives to move into full-time
work, strategy must also provide advice on how benefits are affected
by steps or pathways towards work, such as part-time work, training,
study or voluntary work. Current benefit laws and practices can
penalise or under-reward people who take steps towards work, or
who take up full-time work. The benefit barriers include financial
disincentives, the pressures of income disruption and delays and
risks placed on existing benefits, such as possible review of
Disability Living Allowance. The local authorities responding
to the inquiry agree that the system is very complicated and made
a number of suggestions as to ways it could be made simpler. Clearly
those ideas would need to be costed but are broadly aimed at joining
up existing incentives in a simpler format. However it needs to
be stated that although the benefits system is very complex, disabled
clients have very differing needs and circumstances of care, support
and living so in some senses a degree of complexity may be unavoidable.
22. Tight rules on incapacity for work often
run counter to the support, flexibility and encouragement needed
to move towards or into work. For example, very many disabled
people who have been through the Personal Capability Assessment
procedures speak of it as a deeply stressful experience, because
of the nature of the process coupled with the effect the outcome
will have on their income. It has many negative effects on work
plans. It discourages permitted work, voluntary work or study,
even though these are possible under the rules, because people
fear triggering another test. The Personal Capability Assessment
is particularly poorly received by people with mental health problems.
The new "permitted work" rules are a huge new barrier
to taking the first step into paid work. Most claimants are limited
to gaining £20 a week because they are on income-based benefits.
The rules do not help people to step up their hours graduallyunrealistically,
they expect people top leap up to 16+ hours a week. Many claimants
are also restricted to six or 12 months assistance. This is inadequate,
as it often will take much longer to build up skills and confidence
and to find appropriate work at each stage. Indeed, the new rules
have diminished the prospects and availability of appropriate
work. As an illustrative example a local authority respondent
stated that that they had come across two people with what seems
to be a very similar level of learning disability, yet one is
on Income Support benefits so can only earn £20 a week before
they lose pound for pound to Income Support, yet the other is
on Incapacity Benefit so they can earn right up to £67.50
a week. Feedback received by local authorities from parents indicates
that they find the benefits system very worrying and confusing
and therefore are sometimes reluctant to let their son/daughter/ward
take on paid work for fear of the effect on their eligibility
for benefits. This presents yet another barrier to work.
23. More work could be done on making information
regarding the benefits system more accessible and available for
people with a learning disabilitymaking sure things are
written in simple language including letters to people. Responding
local authorities stated that they have received many phone calls
from concerned clients and their carers because they haven't understood
letters they have been sent and are terrified that all their benefits
are about to cease. Important information should be sent by letter
but a named contact and a telephone number should also be included
so that if people are worried they can ring and talk to someone
who knows about their case. Some sort of drop-in advice centre
for people with learning disabilities and their parents/carers
to get benefits advice might also be useful. Although the Job
Centres Plus offices are available for people to go along to or
phone, some sort of benefits "clinic" with people specially
trained to deal with people with learning disabilities may be
more suitable. Many people find talking on the phone quite stressful
and may not be able to quote some of the facts and figures they
might need over, but may be able to bring a heap of documents
along to a meeting. People need an informed choice and someone
being available to do better-off calculations. Many local authorities
provide this service for their clients but there are many out
there who do not have access to this and includes the ability
to make simple calculations of what peoples income would be if
they did four hrs, eight hrs, 12 hrs and +16 hrs work. This would
then give them a better idea of what kind of work to aim for.
24. Disabled Person's Tax Credit is heavily
under claimed and its eligibility rules are too limited. It has
had very little publicity. The basic entitlement is to be replicated
in the new Working Tax Credit from April 2003. We are disappointed
that the opportunity has not been taken to expand the eligibility
criteria. We would like to see explicit targeted efforts to ensure
that the new Working Tax Credit is promoted to disabled customers,
together with improved official targets and partnership-based
take-up work. We welcome the new top-up proposed in the Green
Paper, as well as the separation of Child Tax Credit and new entitlement
for childless people aged 25+ in Working Tax Credit. The system
of benefits run-ons, bonuses and linking rules is receiving welcome
attention in the Green Paper, with some beneficial expansions
in coverage proposed, such as Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit
for people on Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance.
However, further steps are needed to make the run-ons simple and
automatic, as awareness and take-up have been poor. However the
proposed switch to the Job Grant is less favorable for many claimants
and excludes those aged under 25. Jobcentre Plus often poorly
administers linking rules and accordingly claimants are unable
to avail themselves of potentially reassuring support.
HOW DOES
DISCRIMINATION HINDER
THE EMPLOYMENT
OF DISABLED
PEOPLE?
25. The submissions from local authorities
support the view that many employers will not consider employing
people with disabilities through ignorance and fear and that discrimination
at the recruitment stage will affect the chances of many people
with disabilities.
26. There is concern that employers have
little understanding of the Disability Discrimination Act and
its implications, which often this puts them off supporting disabled
staff in employment. Employers are often not aware of the help
that is available through programmes like Access to Work. Many
employers hold onto rigid work requirements. Their inflexibility
and anxieties mean that they will not fairly consider taking on
disabled applicants. There is a strong need to support the development
of social firms and Intermediate Labour Markets. These also contribute
to local economies and regeneration.
27. Often discrimination is based on people
with a learning disability not in the past being actively encouraged
to work. The implication of this is that lots of peopleemployers,
people with learning disability, the public, parents and carers
and professionalsoften lack an awareness of people's potential
to work and hold down a jobbe that paid or voluntary. This
is echoed further up the chain as mentioned with funding being
primarily related paid employment of eight hours plus, which in
turn encourages projects to look exclusively at more able clients.
Measuring success solely as getting someone into employment for
eight hours plus per week effectively downgrades all the people
with learning disabilities who have put considerable effort into
getting two hours work per week.
28. Local authority respondents have commented
that whilst people can learn new skills for work, where one is
looking at individuals with complex needs and a dual mental health
diagnosis, the situation is unlikely to suddenly resolve itself.
If one waits for a time when these individuals are ready to work
for three hours a week every Monday morning, then these enthusiastic,
committed individuals may not get the chance to work in their
whole lifetimes. Local authorities state that many of the employers
engaged in the process and colleagues within their places of employment
are impressed and enlightened by how much people facing such disabilities
can do. The best way to challenge prejudice and misconception
may be to actually place disabled people alongside the existing
workers and show what they can do.
WHAT EFFECT
DOES THE
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
ACT HAVE?
29. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
has had varying effects on the employment of disabled people.
Lots of the bigger employers are very aware of it and have taken
steps to bring their company in line with it. Some of the smaller
companies are aware of it and have responded very proactively
while some are aware of it and may not have done anything about
it. For these it is often real life experiences that make the
difference. Having a positive experience of someone on a work
placement through careful job matching and intensive support can
open people's eyes and change their perceptions. Equally having
a badly planned and poorly supported placement can effect how
they feel about offering that whole client group an opportunity
in the future. A campaign to promote the DDA might help to reduce
the ignorance surrounding it.
30. However, lack of knowledge is only one
problem as there is evidence that fear of opening up a company
to charges of discrimination once a disabled person has been employed
may itself be discouraging employers from taking on disabled people
(or of adequately addressing the issues of competencies of disabled
people for fear of falling foul of the legislation). A 2001 survey
of the top 300 FTSE companies identified that fear as a major
reason for the low employment rate of disabled people.
31. Clearer guidance on the DDA could help
eradicate employers' fears. Further guidance supported by adequate
training, monitoring and regular review, will enhance the effectiveness
of the DDA. Finally the DDA needs to be marketed and policed more
proactively if people are to take it seriously, recognise diversity
and acknowledge and act upon the requirements of the Act. There
is also a sense that even for people wishing to take tribunal
action there can be difficulties in finding appropriate representation.
Reasonable adjustments are often inexpensive. The Disability Rights
Commission has called for some time-limited tax breaks to further
ease the transition. Some larger employers, including many local
authorities and the NHS, are also showing greater willingness
to take on disabled staff, with improved codes of good practice.
WHAT EXPERIENCE
DO OTHER
COUNTRIES HAVE
IN TACKLING
THE GROWTH
IN THE
NUMBERS CLAIMING
INCAPACITY-RELATED
BENEFITS?
32. In terms of useful experience from abroad,
one LGA member authority referred to the Commonwealth Rehabilitation
Service in Australia which is a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation
team of case managers engaged in assessing rehabilitation needs
and providing programmes (via the commissioning of services) to
promote independence and/or access employment. To this end, physiotherapists
undertake functional assessments, occupational therapists look
at aids/adaptations issues and psychologists might undertake vocational
assessments, etc. The organisation also has funding to arrange
work trials with employers. Individuals receive a training "wage"with
no cost to the employerand approaches an employer for a
placement. In some cases employers subsequently will offer people
permanent contracts but at the least, individuals can gain skills
and confidence and recent work experience for their CVs. When
work-ready they are then able to join job clubs run by the employment
services to support them with job seeking. The service is open
to people facing all disabilities whether congenital or acquired
including sensory and psychiatric. The service works closely with
the social security and employment agencies who often refer people.
The employment service also reviews people claiming incapacity
benefit and both the employment and rehab agency was invited to
these meetings with the individuals consent to offer information
and support re rehabilitation needs. See the IPPR report (Workplace
Support, Retention and Rehabilitation: An Australian Perspective,
Terese Rein, IPPR, November 2002).
33. In many other countries including the
USA, Germany, Italy France tax incentives are given to employers
to take on disabled staff thus reducing their tax and encouraging
them to take on and include disabled people into their workforce.
Tony Rich
Programme Manager
Economic and Environmental Policy Division
10 January 2003
20 Not printed. Back
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