1. Work in Progress Rethinking employment support for disabled people
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2. Contents Case for reform Michael’s story
Blueprint for reform What does ‘good’ support look like?
Steps towards reform Making it happen
3 mins
Introduction
About me and Scope – emphasise service delivery and user involvement
Aiming to start a conversation about better support for disabled people – not to set out definitive answers
Recommendations we make are based on the experience of the five charities – Scope, Mind, Mencap, RNIB, Action on Hearing Loss
We mean employment support in its broadest sense i.e. support throughout careers rather than simply taking people off benefits
Approach to reform aims to do two things
Empower disabled people to have greater ownership over their own careers
Improve the quality and diversity of provision
Overview of presentation
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3. Case for reform Why employment support needs to improve
Matthew’s story:
“Before I got a work placement with London Overground, I thought to myself I wasn’t going to get anywhere. But since I’ve been there, from day one, it was positive.”
“It’s like baby steps, one step after another, like building a brick wall – one brick and put another straight on top of if that’s all going to come crashing down.”
4 mins
Met Matthew in a voluntary programme in East London
Early 20s, has autism and mobility impairment
Before starting this programme, he’d been on 12 different placements or programmes – including WC and WP
Very disrupted education, and left school without GCSEs
Cycled through programmes without moving into sustained placements or paid work
Matthew is passionate about trains and transport networks
Placed with London Overground who gave him opportunities across the business
Loved his time there – has since been offered interviews with TfL
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4. Blueprint for reform What does ‘good’ support look like?
Personalisation
Involving employers
Specialist support
Relationships
4 mins
What mattered in Michael’s story?
Personalisation: job was matched to his interests and his needs.
Before LO his interests hadn’t been taken into account
Shows the importance of matching work to interests and aspirations
Speaks to a wider point: disabled people do not lack motivation to work
Wider support barriers such as condition management, lack of confidence
Conditionality and benefit sanctions are inappropriate
Evaluations have shown they make DPs lives worse without making more likely to work
Involving employers: designing the placement not just around Matthew but around the work he’d be expected to do
I actually spoke to his manager at LO
They had considered business needs and placed Matthew in customer service role
Had also exposed him to other aspects of the business
Programmes should concentrate more on these aspects rather than the basic skills such as CV writing or time keeping
Matthew: It’s experience at the end of the day that matters. It’s something to show employers. I’ve done this, this is the skills that I’ve learnt. It will make them see that I’m someone who should be considered.
Specialist support and relationships: is vital for enabling disabled people to overcome wider barriers
In Matthew’s case it was as simple as providing his managers with some brief training about his needs
Flexible shifts, but also opportunities to build relationships with other staff – offered support and guidance
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5. Steps towards reform Making it happen
Take steps to shape the employment support market
Regional job creation fund
Delivered through regional partnerships
Supported by a Knowledge Exchange Network
4 mins…
Clear that there is too little support like Michael’s:
National provision isn’t effective enough:
WP: 2.9% ESA outcomes
WC: too few places going to disabled people with complex needs
Evaluations of both WP and WC have noted that there is insufficient specialist provision in the market – providers leaving, unsupported, or struggling to make payment structures work
Too little local, specialist provision
LA-funded provision drastically reduced – BASE estimate as many as 40% of LAs have reduced employment provision
Virtually no support for disabled young people – reduction in apprenticeship places
To ensure more disabled people get high quality support, we need to build the capability, effectiveness and diversity of local, specialist providers
How do we do this?
DWP to shift from commissioning to more actively shaping the employment support market
Recommendation: Regional Job Creation Fund – use some funding to for seed-funding pilot delivery
Mechanism: Regional Job Creation Partnerships – inclusive local labour markets
Remit: distribute seed funding to new providers + evaluate performance
Create a Knowledge Exchange Network
NB: PX, Select Com, LGA all making similar recommendations
Challenges:
Building good-quality evidence networks – what are proper methodologies for comparing performance?
Sustainability of markets – can we build provision around comparatively small budgets?
Other systemic problems: better assessment and referral processes; historic performance as assessment
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6. Follow up Get in touch!
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