The DWP has issued a report on its progress to increase employment opportunities for disabled people 1 year after we set out our plans in the disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far.
The report outlines the results so far of initiatives such as the employer aimed Disability Confident campaign, extended Access to Work scheme coverage, and Work Choice programme.
In the foreword to the new report, Esther Mcvey Minister of State for Employment says:
“Last December, in the ‘Disability and Health Employment Strategy’, I set out my ambition to increase employment opportunities for disabled people. One year on, we are reporting on our progress and plans. Work can boost wellbeing, confidence and independence, so I am very pleased that there are 259,000 more disabled people in employment than one year ago, over 3 million in total.”
She adds:
“For 2015/16 there is an overall budget of £350m for disability and health employment support, including around £120m for Work Choice, over £100m for Access to Work and around £50m for Employment Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit customers on the Work Programme. We will build on the successes of the past year so that Britain continues to be a place where disabled people can achieve their ambitions.”
Commenting on the DWP’s progress report, Disability Rights UK’s CEO Liz Sayce said:
“It's good that as more jobs have come on stream (in some areas) some disabled people have benefitted; and employers have benefited from disabled people's talents.
However, disabled people are still overwhelmingly unemployed and under-employed (there is a disability pay gap of over £1.00 an hour).
So we still need a true disability and employment strategy. This should:
- Stop requiring people to participate in schemes like the Work Programme that are failing disabled people: it cannot be right to require people to participate in a programme that does not work;
- Invest in people's potential, through support that suits individuals and offers choice;
- Incentivise employers - through good, timely advice when they need it; and an expectation on large employers to report on disability employment rates to show this issue is serious
- Scale up peer support and mentoring, because there is nothing so powerful as hearing from someone who has been in the same position as you and is now working; and
- Put in place personal budgets for employment support - so people can use the resource for the best support for them - as is used in Holland, where they have been found to be more cost effective than traditional vocational rehabilitation.
Disability Confident Britain is available @ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-disability-and-health-employment-strategy-1-year-on