One million disabled people into work ?

woodbine

News item last night that the govt. plan to get one million more disabled people into work by 2027, this target was originally set out in 2017, so it's just a re-hash of a previous plan.
I don't see how they hope to achieve this without educating employers.

Anyone got any ideas as to how this could be achieved?

calcotti

Teddybear12 said:

@woodbine With a lot of hard work, adjustments and flexible working hours. Even then are there that many jobs suitable for disabled people.

..did you mean unsuitable? (Both statements are of course true.)

littleacorn

I agree with @Username_removed the strapline should really say "Trying to get 1 million off benefit"

woodbine

littleacorn said:

I agree with @Username_removed the strapline should really say "Trying to get 1 million off benefit"

They have been trying that for more than ten years now and whilst they have had some success perhaps not as much as they were hoping for, two examples there are still people who have yet to be moved from DLA to PIP, and trying to move people on legacy benefits to UC has so far been a massive failure.

calcotti

Moving people from one benefit to a new one is a rather different task to moving people off benefits.

woodbine

calcotti said:

Moving people from one benefit to a new one is a rather different task to moving people off benefits.

Agree totally, my point being that they have failed in so many ways, that their desire to move 1 million disabled people into work is also doomed to fail.
But it has to be said that if they get enough employers to make it work, many of those disabled people will still qualify for PIP and many would also get UC to top up their incomes, so they would in many cases still be on "benefits".

calcotti

woodbine said:..many of those disabled people will still qualify for PIP and many would also get UC to top up their incomes, so they would in many cases still be on "benefits".

Good point! There are definitely DWP staff in receipt of UC.

calcotti

Username_removed said:.. the biggest push on sanctions and work search for people sending in fit notes I’ve ever seen. ..

Which is very depressing and will inevitably increase mental health problems and poverty as identified in  previous studies on the impact of sanctions. DWP own research on the effectiveness of sanctions is yet another document they have refused to publish.

RoseyG

Username_removed said:

The latest statement coincides not with some new initiative with employers or stuff around training. It coincides with the biggest push on sanctions and work search for people sending in fit notes I’ve ever seen. That it’s not a coincidence should be obvious really. 

It’s one of the only positives about so many people on UC still have the wrong commitments, it is making these ridiculous sanctions easier to have overturned. 

RoseyG

woodbine said:

News item last night that the govt. plan to get one million more disabled people into work by 2027, this target was originally set out in 2017, so it's just a re-hash of a previous plan.
I don't see how they hope to achieve this without educating employers.

Anyone got any ideas as to how this could be achieved?

From what I’ve been seeing, it looks like they’re mostly trying to achieve this by scaring people into work and leaving people without any choice, through sanctions and intensive work search. Those who’ve handed in fit notes but are awaiting assessment seem to be first on the chopping board! I’m sure we can all read between the lines and assume why. 

janer1967

In my opinion for what it is worth I think the new uc rules around making claimants look for work in other fields after 4 weeks will only increase the amount that start to report medical conditions and supply fit notes trying to avoid sanctions 

This will put even more pressure on dwp to complete wca process which already has huge backlogs 

calcotti

Username_removed said:.. increasingly obvious that huge numbers of people have submitted fit notes which have wrongly not triggered a referral for assessment. 

Have definitely noticed that - even for those who should trigger a day 1 referral due to their health condition.

JenF

If they were serious about this they need to tackle various problems that keep people with a disability, who could work full or part time, on the dole.
Firstly, prejudice by employers. And also in the voluntary sector.
Secondly, genuine difficulties of employers. For example, a blind person would need a couple of weeks simply to find their way around, before they could start actually working, compared with a sighted person who could do that in a morning. So the employer has to pay for two weeks adjustment by said blind employee.
Thirdly, a lot of people get work through casual jobs or voluntary work - but see points one and two above.
Fourthly disabled people can't get housing where they can get work - this probably affects professionals more than manual workers.
Fifthly, many disabled people could work from home, and there seems to be no reason why the job can't be done from home, but many employers are against this.

MarkM88

A lot of that could be easily addressed through the access to work scheme. 

JenF

Yes, it could, but is it? This is ten years ago now (and my daughter's condition has deteriorated since) but she started two access to work schemes, one after the other and both of which closed before she got anywhere. These schemes need to build up experienced staff, who need good contacts with a range of local employers. They can't be temporary contracts to voluntary or commercial organisations.

MarkM88

Access to work is not a employment scheme. 

Access to work is provided by the government to help anyone that needs support to stay in work. 

So going by what you had described above, they could receive disability training, aids, adaptations, equipment, a support worker, help with taxis, etc, are examples. 

JenF

The key to what you say is 'stay in work'. You have to find a job first. It doesn't overcome the prejudice or solve the housing issue.
It's a good scheme, from the sound of it, but it can't solve all of the problems.
The schemes my daughter went on were not employment schemes either, in the sense that Remploy was. They were aimed at helping disabled people to get into ordinary work, by giving specialist advice and support for the applications process.

MarkM88

I’m not saying all disabled individuals find work, but there are employers out there that are very open to hiring disabled individuals and providing reasonable adjustments. Please don’t associate them all as bad. 

JenF

I'm very glad to hear what you say. Perhaps we have had a bad experience - though sadly now it is irrelevant as my daughter is now too disabled to work at all.

JenF

By the way, I forgot to mention the role played by insurance in keeping disabled people out of work. In the days when my daughter might have worked part time, she was told more than once that employers wouldn't have her because she would be deemed a risk, or at risk, and this would put their insurance premiums up, if they could get insurance at all.

MarkM88

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of insurance companies dictating who an employer can hire due to premiums and costs of insurance. Not nowadays anyway.