Managing disability: resources

PUBLIC BODIES AND DfEE RESOURCES

Disability Rights Commission

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was created by the Disability Rights Commission Act 1999, and was formally opened on 19 April 2000, with 14 commissioners. The aim of the DRC "will be to work towards the elimination of discrimination against disabled people in England, Scotland and Wales (similar arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland). It will also promote the equalisation of opportunities for disabled people with those of non-disabled people, promote good practice among employers and service providers, advise the Government on law about discrimination against disabled people and be a central source of advice for employers and business."¹

The DRC is government funded, but is able to act independently. The DRC has eight "key principles":

Aside from its policy objectives, the DRC is specifically required to:

The DRC will be involved in settling disputes and, when appropriate, arrange for a lawyer to help and advise a disabled person. The main work of conciliation on employment issues will, however, continue to be undertaken by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). The DRC will thus concentrate on providing conciliation services with respect to disabled people's access to goods, facilities and services.

On formal investigations, the DRC will have the similar powers to the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It will be able to investigate alleged breaches of the law by named parties, with the possibility of serving a "non-discrimination notice". Parties or individuals served with such a notice are ordered to stop their breach of the law, but have the right to appeal. Like the other equality commissions, the DRC will also be able to undertake general investigations into particular issues or sectors, for example, it could investigate whether or not disabled people are being denied promotion opportunities in the public sector.

The DRC will provide information and advice and have about 150 members of staff. Its chair, Bert Massie, hopes that the DRC will not principally be involved in taking organisations who break the law to court but will "try and get them to do things right".

A draft code of practice clarifying service providers' duties under the DDA is available on the DRC web site.

Disability Rights Commission, 7th floor, 222 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8HL, telephone helpline: 0845 762 2633; e-mail enquiry@drc-gb.org; web site www.drc-gb.org .

Disability Service Teams

Disability Service Teams (DSTs) are part of the Employment Service and based at Jobcentres. DSTs and specialist Disability Employment Advisers can offer advice - but not legal advice - and practical assistance on employing disabled people. They should be contacted through local Jobcentres.

Nearly three-quarters of the employers responding to our Management Review survey had made use of Employment Service Disability Advisers or Disability Service Teams.

Disability symbol - "two-ticks"

The Disability Symbol "two-ticks" was launched by the Employment Service in 1990. It allows employers to demonstrate a commitment to equal employment opportunities for disabled applicants and employees, and to encourage job applications from disabled people. The Employment Service intended that the symbol would not only encourage employers to show their commitment to good practice, but also indicate to disabled people those employers most likely to be positive about their abilities.²

All employers who use the symbol are required to implement five specific commitments to action:

A survey by the Institute of Employment Studies on The recruitment and retention of people with disabilities, found that nearly three-quarters (71%) of symbol users reported "actively trying to attract applicants from people with disabilities", compared with just 11% of a random sample of employers.³

Access to Work

Financial and practical assistance with the employment of disabled people is available through the Employment Service's Access to Work scheme. The scheme is designed to provide practical and financial support to enable disabled people to find and retain work. The support ranges from financial help with transport to the provision of special equipment, adaptations to the workplace or premises and support workers (such as readers) so barriers to successful employment can be overcome. In 1998-99, about 16,000 people used Access to Work, at a cost of £20.8 million.⁴ The Government set aside £22 million for the scheme in 1999-2000 and £26 million for 2000-2001, aiming to provide support for 23,000 people.^{5, 6}

The Access to Work programme was introduced in June 1994 and is designed to be flexible in its operation. It is not intended to limit the support available to predetermined categories. There are eight key elements for assistance:²

If a disabled worker is starting a job, changing jobs or has recently started a new job, he or she may receive 100% of the costs of that change. However, for current employees (ie those who have been employed for more than six weeks) the costs are shared with the employer: Access to Work pays 80% of costs up to £10,000 and all the costs above that threshold. Financial support under Access to Work is not available for costs of less than £300. The Access to Work scheme provides support up to a ceiling of £21,000 over five years for each individual; although the Employment Service has discretionary powers to exceed this limit. The £21,000 limit starts again after each five-year period. There is an appeals mechanism to cater for the relatively small number of cases where support is required above the ceiling and discretionary awards have not been granted.

Just less than half of the employers responding to our Management Review survey have used the Access to Work scheme.

As our HSBC Bank case study demonstrates, Access to Work can provide valuable assessment and financial support. The downside, however, is that the administration of the scheme can create delays. It has been criticised for being "poorly publicised, time consuming to arrange and bureaucratic".⁷

The criticism appears to have filtered through. In April 2000, Margaret Hodge, the Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities, claimed the Government was "planning to improve the quality of service offered through Access to Work. Over the next year it is strengthening Disability Service training, conducting a customer satisfaction survey and undertaking a review to streamline Access to Work processes".⁶

New Deal

The Government is currently funding a number of projects under its New Deal for Disabled People initiative (NDDP), though most are pilot schemes. The NDDP is a joint initiative between the DfEE and the Department of Social Security - £195 million has been set aside for its funding during the current Parliament.⁵ Schemes include "personal adviser projects", run by either the DfEE Employment Service, local authorities, private sector or voluntary organisations. The schemes allow individual disabled workers to take unpaid work for a 15-day trial without losing their social security benefits. The personal adviser is, essentially, there to help the disabled person through the system. The adviser is required to advise both the disabled person and the prospective employer, and to "put together the right package of incentives and services to speed the client's transition into employment".⁴ Other schemes funded under the NDDP include local "innovative projects" designed, for example, to secure worthwhile employment and vocational training for disabled people.

Supported employment

Supported employment initiatives are designed to help disabled people find and retain a job that would not be realisable without special assistance. Supported employment includes "sheltered employment" in factories or workplaces dedicated to employing disabled people (such as the 89 Remploy factories in the UK), and "supported open employment" whereby disabled people are integrated into open employment settings through financial subsidies. It is this second class that has most relevance to this report.

As well as its dedicated factories, Remploy provides supported open employment through its Interwork scheme. About 3,500 people are employed by Remploy but placed in "host" employer organisations alongside the host's own workforce.⁴ The supported worker is paid the same rate as the other workers, but the cost of the employment is shared by Remploy and the host employer.

Disabled people are referred to Supported Employment Programmes through the Employment Service. A "programme provider" (usually from a voluntary disability organisation) will negotiate a level of support for the employer and employee. This might include a contribution towards the employee's wages and, in some cases, the provision of a support worker (such as a job coach). The eligibility of the job seeker for support under the scheme is assessed by the Employment Service Disability Employment Adviser. In 1999-2000, the Government set aside £155 million on supported employment, with an additional £5 million a year over the subsequent three years.⁵

At present, the scheme is open to disabled people who are "unable to obtain or retain work in open employment because of the severity of their disability… and are capable of a productivity output of between 30% and 80% of that of a non-disabled person doing the same or similar work". The Education and Employment Committee concludes, however, that the rigid application of a "productivity requirement" can be counterproductive.⁴ It recommends that: "Any new eligibility criteria for access to supported employment should focus primarily on the level of support that an individual needs to carry out a job," and that "Supported Employment initiatives should enable people to progress, where appropriate, from supported businesses and factories, to supported open employment to open employment with no support".⁴

While there is a clear need to avoid "institutionalising" disabled people, the Committee also argues that "within a general policy goal of promoting the integration of disabled people within the workforce, progression should depend on the needs of the individual."⁴

The learning disability charity Mencap believes that greater resources need to be allocated if the Supported Employment scheme is to cope with increased demand following the introduction of the national minimum wage. A survey by the charity reveals that the national minimum wage has left many people with severe learning difficulties at risk of losing their jobs.⁸ Many jobs have been created specifically for individuals with severe learning difficulties who often have low work output but who benefit considerably from their work placement. These jobs are at risk, the charity argues, if employers are forced to pay the minimum wage in all cases.

Mencap believes that Supported Employment is an attractive option for employers because of the wage subsidies available, but also argues that, by changing the law, "special placements" could be created that would be exempt from the national minimum wage. Any amendment to current legislation would need to include provision for independent assessment so that a loophole could not be used by unscrupulous employers wishing to exploit vulnerable workers.

Nearly one-third of the employers responding to our Management Review survey had acted as hosts to the Supported Employment scheme, though most were from the public sector (chapter seven).

Job Introduction Schemes

Job Introduction Schemes are designed to provide a weekly grant towards the cost of employing a disabled person for a trial period. Employers can obtain information from the Disability Employment Adviser at a Jobcentre. About £1.5 million was earmarked for Job Introduction Schemes in 1999-2000.⁵ One in five employers responding to our Management Review survey had participated in the Job Introduction Scheme.

DDA Helpline

The DDA helpline is a "one-stop point for all your enquiries about the Disability Discrimination Act and employing disabled people". It is run by the DfEE. Operators can provide general advice and information (though not legal advice) and can direct enquirers to a range of specialist organisations if required.

Tel: 0345 622 633; text phone (for those with hearing impairments) 0345 622 644; e-mail: ddahelp@stra.sitel.co.uk

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS AND CHARITIES

Employers' Forum on Disability

The Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD) was founded in 1986 and now has over 350 member companies which, together, employ one in five of the UK workforce.

Membership is £1,650 a year with a one-off joining fee of £500 plus VAT. In addition, a special "Gold card" membership is available; providing access to a special series of events, and opportunities to influence the Forum's strategic development. The gold card members (current in February 2000) were: Abbey National, B&Q, Barclays, BG, BT, BUPA, Camelot Group, Centrica, GlaxoWellcome, Granada Group, HSBC Bank, Manpower, McDonald's Restaurants, The Post Office, Railtrack, Sainsbury's Supermarkets, ScottishPower, Unum. The full list of members is available on the EFD web site (see below).

The main reasons companies join, says the EFD, are:

The services offered by the EFD include:

Employers' Forum on Disability, Nutmeg House, 60 Gainsford Street, London, SE1 2NY, tel: 020 7403 3020, fax: 020 7403 0404, web site: www.efd.org.uk. Organisations interested in joining the EFD can contact its business development manager, Ian Hastie, at the above address or by e-mail: ian.hastie@employers-forum.co.uk.

Disability charities

An extensive, though not exhaustive, list of disability charities and their services for employers and employees is given in figure 8.1. Further information is available from the organisations themselves (contact information given where available).

Figure 8.1: Employment advice and contact details from 15 disability organisations

¹     House of Commons Education and Employment Committee (1999), Opportunities for disabled people, Ninth Report of the House of Commons Education and Employment Committee, The Stationery Office, ISBN 0 10 556499 0, price £10.60.

²     Dench S, Meager N and Morris S (1996), The recruitment and retention of people with disabilities, Institute of Employment Studies report no.301, ISBN 1 85184 227 6, IES, Brighton.

³     Floyd M (1998), Vocational and rehabilitation services and the DDA, Occupational Health Review, 57, 29-31.

⁴     Disability Rights Task Force (1999), From exclusion to inclusion: final report of the Disability Rights Task Force, DfEE, London.

⁵     Promoting disabled people's rights: Creating a Disability Rights Commission fit for the 21st Century, Government White Paper, www.disability.gov.uk, hard copies available from the Stationery Office, price £7.45.

⁶     Stafford B (2000), Long-term illness and impairment: who needs help with job retention, paper presented at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation seminar on job retention in the context of long-term illness, 1 March 2000.

⁷     Mencap (2000), Minimum wage: making it work. The implications of the national minimum wage for people with a learning disability. Available from Mencap, London, tel: 020 7696 5593, free.

⁸     Hansard, 3 April 2000.