Helping disabled people get and keep jobs

1
Helping disabled people get and keep jobs
2
Access to Work programme

• Access to Work is one of our most popular and
  successful labour market programmes, with aim of
  reducing inequalities between disabled people
  and non-disabled people by removing practical
  barriers to work
• Likely to help c 28,000 disabled customers get or
  keep employment this year
• High levels of satisfaction from disabled
  customers and their employers.

3
Access to Work Eligibility

• To be eligible to apply for Access to Work, a
  customer must
• have a disability or health condition as defined
  under the DDA which is affecting their ability to
  work
• be 16 years-old or over (there is no upper age
  limit)
• live and work in Great Britain
• be in work already, or have a confirmed
  start-date
• not be in receipt of Incapacity Benefit or ESA
  (however the customer may get limited help if
  they will be working under Higher Level or
  Supported Permitted Work rules).

4
Access to Work Elements

• Communicator Support at Interview meets full
  cost of hiring an interpreter to remove any
  communication barriers faced at an interview.
  Predominantly used by people with hearing
  difficulties, could also provide support to
  someone with learning disabilities or speech
  difficulty
• Support Worker, might include reading to a
  visually impaired person, communicating for a
  hearing impaired person via British Sign
  Language, providing specialist coaching for a
  person with a learning difficulty or helping
  someone with personal care needs in their working
  environment
• Travel to Work grants, to meet the additional
  costs of travel to work for people who are unable
  to use public transport. Might include funding
  adaptations to make a customers own vehicle
  accessible, or paying the additional costs of
  taxis to and from work
• Special Aids and Equipment, e.g. specialist
  chairs or Information and Communications
  Technology required by the customer
• Adaptations to Premises and Equipment, making
  premises and equipment accessible and usable by
  disabled person.

5
What AtW Programme Pays for

• Access to Work will pay 100 of approved costs
  for
• People in their job for less than six weeks, or
  who are about to start in a new job
• People in self employment
• Support workers
• Travel to work
• Communicator support at interview
• For people in their job for six weeks or longer,
  Access to Work meets up to 80 of approved costs
  above a threshold of 300 and below a ceiling of
  10,000 and 100 of approved costs above 10,000,
  over a 3 year period.

6
Access to Work Delivery

• Delivered by Jobcentre Plus
• Initial interview and eligibility check generally
  done by telephone to Operational Support Units
  (based in Glasgow, Cardiff and London)
• If eligible, customer then referred to relevant
  Access to Work Adviser, based in Jobcentre Plus
  offices. Further detailed discussions to
  determine needs, usually by telephone but may
  involve visits or other arrangements as necessary
• Support determined individually, following
  assessment by Access to Work Adviser and, if
  appropriate, by a contracted specialist
  third-party assessor.

7
Access to Work Developments 1

• An additional one-off 8m has been secured for
  09/10 to support customers during the economic
  downturn
• As promised in the White Paper Reforming Welfare
  for the Future the budget for Access to Work
  will double to 138m in 2013/14. Budget growth
  begins in 2010/11, but profile not yet set.
• In planning for growth of programme, particular
  focus on increasing participation by customers
  with mental health conditions and moderate to
  severe learning disabilities, both
  under-represented by comparison with need, and on
  supporting people working for SMEs
• From April 2009, disabled people taking part in a
  formal Work Trial can apply for Access to Work.
  Work Trials can last from a few days to 6 weeks
  and because there is a genuine job vacancy at the
  end they are a direct route into paid employment

8
Access to Work Developments 2

• November 2008, launched a small pilot
  specifically aiming to assist customers with
  fluctuating mental health conditions move in to
  and retain paid employment
• Run in conjunction with mental health
  organisation, Mind, operating in London Boroughs
  of Islington and Hammersmith Fulham
• Over c. 9 month period, the pilot expects to
  provide assistance to 60 customers, with the
  intention that employers will build a greater
  capacity to support their employees in times of
  ill health, without the assistance of Mind or
  AtW
• Lessons learned can be applied to support
  customers with other fluctuating conditions.

9
Access to Work Developments 3

• Testing concepts of Right to Control through a
  small pilot increasing choice and control within
  the AtW programme. This pilot will include up
  front payment of awards to new customers. This
  pilot will begin in July and will run initially
  for 6 months. Evaluation of this will inform the
  wider Right to Control trailblazers being
  developed by ODI
• Working with major employers e.g. Royal Mail
  Group to develop more efficient delivery models.
  RMG arrangement gives single national point of
  contact and accelerated decision making, in
  exchange for greater contribution rate (first
  1000, then 30 contribution rate). JCP working
  with other major national employers to develop
  similar arrangements.

10
Specialist Disability Employment Programme

• Current provision
• WORKSTEP Support for disabled people facing
  complex issues in getting/keeping a paid job
  (currently spend around 69m, helping some 14,000
  people)
• Work Preparation Helps disabled people address
  employment related issues associated with their
  disability and prepare to enter work (currently
  spend around 11m)
• Job Introduction Scheme Can pay a wage subsidy of
  75 per week for up to thirteen weeks (currently
  spend around 1m)

11
Why change?

• On 3 December 2007, DWP launched its public
  consultation Improving Specialist Disability
  Employment Services, aimed at improving the
  effectiveness of some of the specialist support
  which the DWP provides to help disabled people
  enter and/or retain employment.
• The consultation document provided an analysis of
  our current specialist disability employment
  programmes and showed that they did not always
  focus on the needs of individual customers, were
  not always of a good quality and may not be
  available near where people need the services.
• It was clear from our programme evaluations that
  Work Preparation (either as an assessment or job
  entry service) and WORKSTEP could be used
  together effectively to help someone gain and
  retain employment, but this did not happen often
  enough.

12
New Programme Modular Design

• Module 1
• Aimed at disabled people who have more complex
  barriers to work, primarily those who are likely
  to need some form of support to retain their
  position when they have entered work.
• This module is six months long with a three month
  extension possible dependent on individual need,
  determined on a case-by-case basis.
• Module 2
• Once an individual has found paid employment the
  service provider will work with the employer and
  customer to identify the support required for the
  disable customer to start work.
• This module will last for up to two years,
  although the expectation is that the majority of
  customers will remain on the module for a shorter
  period.
• Module 3
• The longer-term supported employment module would
  focus on helping provide a stable working
  environment and helping the individual develop
  their career. There will be however, some focus
  to move into unsupported employment.
• This module will recognise that, for some people,
  there will always be a need for them to be
  supported in the workplace.

13
New Programme Targets

• More people getting jobs
• minimum expectation that 55 of new participants
  get a supported employment placement
• minimum expectation that 30 of participants will
  move to unsupported employment
• More people staying in jobs
• minimum expectation that 60 of participants who
  have attained unsupported employment will
  continue

14
Timetable for Implementation

• Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) events
  March/April 2009
• PQQ bids received May 2009
• Critical Design Review July 2009
• Invitation to Tender (ITT) July 2009
• ITT bids received October 2009
• Contract Award April 2010
• Operational Readiness Review June 2010
• Contract Start Date w/c 26.10.10

15
Remploy

• Remploy is one of the UK's leading providers of
  employment services and employment to people with
  disabilities and complex barriers to work.
• The company is the largest WORKSTEP programme
  provider employing nearly 3000 disabled people in
  54 factory sites. Remploy factories produce a
  wide range of high quality goods and services for
  the public and private sector.
• In 2008-09 Remploy supported over 7,600 people
  into mainstream jobs through their Employment
  Services.
• They also deliver Work Preparation and Pathways
  to Work and are a preferred bidder for Flexible
  New Deal in one District.
• Remploy will become a national provider for
  specialist disability employment programmes
  following the same policy principles as other
  providers.
• Further information can be found at
  http//www.remploy.co.uk/

16
Right to Control Background

• Green Paper published July 2008
• We will consult on a series of possible further
  changes that would give disabled people greater
  choice and control over their lives, giving
  disabled people a right to request control over a
  range of public funding to which they are
  entitled, allowing them far greater choice over
  how best to spend this money so as to meet their
  needs.
• White Paper published December 2008
• many disabled people do not have the sort of
  choice and control over their lives that
  non-disabled people take for grantedToo often,
  services are structured in a way that can
  reinforce dependency instead of providing support
  in a way that enables disabled people to achieve
  their aspirations and access the same
  opportunities as non-disabled people.

17
How will the Right to Control work?

• Regulations under the bill will empower disabled
  adults to take greater choice and control over
  support and services. This means being able to
• require authorities to tell them how much money
  is available
• require the authority to plan with them how best
  to use this money to meet their needs
• being able to choose the degree of control over
  the support they receive.
• The individual will be able to receive a direct
  payment, continue to allow the public authority
  to arrange their support, or use a mixed
  approach.

18
Which funding streams will the Right to Control
cover?

• Access to Work
• Independent Living Funds
• Specialist disability employment programmes
• Other funding streams for inclusion will be
  determined through a national consultation
  exercise with disabled adults, providers and
  user-led organisations. They will be considering
• Funding for equipment and adaptations
• Funding that enables disabled adults to access
  education and training
• Adult Social Care is excluded from the right to
  control as legislation already exists to enable
  direct payments. We will align the right to
  control with Adult Social Care.

19
Right to Control implementation

• From 2010 the right to control will be piloted in
  a small number of trailblazing public authority
  areas
• We want to test both if the right to control
  should be implemented nationally, and also how
  this should be done
• We will be asking local authorities, Jobcentre
  Plus and other agencies to develop proposals
  together and in co-production with disabled
  people, setting out how they propose to implement
  the right to control
• Neither social care, nor any other service should
  be the sole gateway to choice and control
• The trailblazers will join up different services
  and funding streams to avoid the fragmentation of
  support too often experienced by disabled people
• Being taken forward by Office for Disability
  Issues. Consultation opened 11 June 2009, runs
  until September.
• For further information on the Right to Control,
  refer to the website www.odi.gov.uk

20
Helping disabled people get and keep jobs
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS