Seamus Mannion, Founder, SENDCode CIC – Written evidence (YSP0011)

General

1) What barriers do young disabled people face when leaving education and entering the job market and workplace? Does this differ between different conditions or disabilities, and if so, how?

Many of our young people have already been out of education due to anxiety related to school and college, in some case they have been out of formal education for years. The barriers this creates include lack of IAG, lack of routine required to enter employment. Low self esteem and poor communication skills, which are key in motivation to seek employment.

There is a huge lack of knowledge about the roles people with disabilities can work in, as a result of unconscious bias about what ‘dis’ability means. Most supported employment programmes are aimed at low skill and therefore low paid roles and yet many of our young people have the digital skills to work in the digital sector.

a) How far do barriers to young disabled people accessing other public services, such as health and care services, present a barrier to young disabled people accessing the workplace?

Often our young people struggle to get the right support to allow them to enter the workplace, because of the length of time social care support, assessments and implementation takes. This then means that opportunities are then lost because employment opportunities cannot be held open indefinitely.

Scope of the inquiry

2) We have not focused this inquiry specifically on the experiences of young people with an Education, Health, and Care plan when they leave education and enter employment. What are your thoughts on this approach, and are there particular benefits or drawbacks to it? What other focused approaches could the inquiry take?

As stated in number 1) many of our learners have fallen out of the system of education and been unable to attend formal education. Or their diagnoses have not been until after school age because of lack of capacity in various NHS Trusts. Either way, that means they nay still have the same needs as people who have an EHCP but no way of achieving funding for programmes such as those we offer.

Support for young disabled people

3) How effectively do education systems provide careers advice, guidance and support which meet the needs and career aspirations of young disabled people? How could this be improved, and what examples of good practice are there in the UK and abroad?

There needs to be more targeted advice for high functioning autistic young people who are often given the same advice about employment as those who are cognitively less able.

a) Do staff in schools and other education settings providing careers guidance and advice have the appropriate training and resources to support the needs and aspirations of young disabled people?

No

b) How do far do staff in education settings engage with employment support services and schemes such as Access to Work, supported internships, or disability employment advisors in order to support young disabled people?

This is improving but schools don’t have capacity to do this for the amount of time (bespoke planning) that it takes, unless it is a special school.

4) How far do employment support mechanisms such as Access to Work or Disability Employment Advisors meet the needs of young disabled people entering the job market for the first time? How could these services be improved?

Access to Work needs a fast track application process for Supported Internships. Currently AtW applications can take up to 3 months for a decision and information that is already known (from the EHCP) about young people is trawled through again and justification is needed in too much detail. In the digital sector, most businesses are SMES and don’t have capacity to support the level of detail needed and also, may only have some short term work, which can’t wait for three months until an AtW decision is made.

a) What is the first point that a young disabled person would engage with an employment support scheme, and how are such schemes communicated to young disabled people?

Year 9 – training about Access to Work, which could be delivered in mainstream as 20% of people in UK have a disability or long term health condition, and so would in theory benefit from the scheme.

5) What are young disabled people’s experiences of the transition from education-based support to employment-related support? Do young disabled people face barriers to accessing support during this transition? Could these services be better linked, and if so, how?

This would need alterations to the AtW system as mentioned above

Public services as good employers

6) How accessible are careers in public services to young disabled people when they are first entering the job market? Are there public services which very effectively recruit disabled people, and services where significant improvement is needed?

Recruitment in public services is varied, but the bigger issue is ongoing support and retention of disabled people.

a) What could public services employers learn from best practice elsewhere, including overseas, about recruiting and retaining young disabled people? What are the barriers to implementing such good practice?

Recruitment takes time and the application process is often antiquated and clearly designed by neurotypical people. If more thought was put into application procedures and there was a genuine desire to employ people with disabilities and retain and develop them as employees, then more disabled people would feel comfortable in applying and disclosing their needs. As things stand there is too much bias before they even get to the interview/ assessment stage which can put many off even applying.

Support for employers

7) How effective are government programmes which support or encourage employers to employ disabled people, particularly young disabled people? Does this differ by condition or disability? How could they be improved?

Highly skilled jobs at an entry level, are few and far between for disabled candidates in the creative and digital sector. SMEs are the main employers in this sector and they often do not have capacity to apply, let alone provide or source the right support for disabled employees.

a) What steps could be taken to improve awareness and uptake of relevant government support schemes?

Sharing case studies of successes via social media. Commitment from large corporate organisations to employ more disabled people.

b) What actions could employers be taking without Government support? What barriers prevent them doing so?

Size of organisations and capacity.

Enforcement of the rights of disabled people in the workplace

8) How effectively are the rights of disabled people upheld and enforced in the workplace? What barriers do young disabled people face in accessing the support (including legal support) that they need and are entitled to? How could enforcement mechanisms be improved?

There is often closing of ranks when disabled people provide more challenging to work with and a desire to get hem out the door quickly. This is because large organisations are often poorly set up with processes and systems that are inflexible. The disabled employee is then seen as problematic because they don’t fit into the system, rather than the system itself being the problem.

a)    Is the present legal framework sufficient, in theory and in practice, in dealing with disability discrimination faced by young disabled people transitioning from education to work?

No. It is too easy to sign up to the Disability Confident kitemark without having to actually change anything about the way organisations treat disabled people in practical ways rather than writing it into policies.

6 September 2023