We agree - NOW is the time!
Debra Burnett • April 29, 2021
With the developing success of Supported Employment for job seekers with long-term mental health needs, people with learning disabilities have once again been forgotten.
In a recent blog
from the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) reflecting on the Supported Employment sector, it’s Chief Executive, Huw Davies, emphasises the need for the soon to be published National Disability Strategy to invest in high quality local support employment services.
Employment rates for people with learning disabilities stand somewhere between 6% and 26% - depending on who you believe – wherever the figure truly lies, there is no denying that greater access to supported employment services are essential and notably education pathways and supported internships for young people with disabilities need greater investment. It’s been shown that if a young learning-disabled person doesn't get a job by the age of 25-years, then they are unlikely to work through their life time. This is a huge waste of human potential when their skills and abilities could, with the right support, be deployed in the job market; improving their own wellbeing and that of society as a whole.
40 years after the introduction of Supported Employment to the UK, there has still not been any national statutory funding. Despite use of the Supported Employment model making financial sense – because local services using it are shown to achieve better and more sustainable outcomes than that of the marginally less expensive mainstream employment support commissioned by DWP - the sector is predominantly funded through hard pressed local authorities and charitable sources. All of whom are finding it difficult to make budgets stretch.
With a growing consensus, that locally commissioned support is the most effective model - enabling local coordination and building trust with jobseekers – now is the time to invest. Local Supported Employment services continue to be at risk without national funding, making it unlikely that employment rates will improve. The National Disability Strategy has to address the obvious need to invest, in much the same way as Treasury investment has benefitted the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services delivering local employment support to people with severe mental health difficulties.
Ways into Work whole heartedly endorse Huw Davies’ views and agree – Now is the time!
To read and find out more about Huw’s blog, please visit the BASE website here. To find out about what we do to support those with disabilities into sustainable employment, please visit here
and if you are an employer read how we can help you reach a talented untapped workforce by visiting our website.
Huw Davies has been the chief executive of BASE since 2008. He previously chaired the Association from its formation in 2006 and chaired one of its predecessor associations, AfSE, from 2002 to 2006. He is one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Union of Supported Employment.
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