Shaw Trust – Written evidence (YDP0027)

Submission to the House of Lords Inquiry

The Transition from Education to Employment for Young Disabled People

Introduction

At Shaw Trust, we innovate to create better futures for people and communities. We challenge inequality and break down barriers to inclusion and social mobility.

With more than 40 years’ experience, we have grown to be the UK’s largest not-for-profit in the employment and children’s residential care sectors, joining up education, learning and skills, and careers advice, and focusing on the improving the life chances of children and adults.

As a long-standing delivery partner for government, we are doing our part in driving growth, boosting communities, tackling economic inactivity, helping people into work and better value for money for the taxpayer.

Our innovation and value

As a charity, we create social value from the surplus we generate through our commissioned services and integrated provision to deliver more for our participants and the wider community.

We play a key role in improving outcomes through innovative programme design while delivering on the government’s agenda.

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?

1.      The pipeline of skilled disabled people who are able to contribute to the economy and their communities and lead independent, fulfilled lives, is restricted by the related issues of:

• an increased likelihood of poor educational outcomes
• fewer young disabled people attending university
• significant challenges for graduates entering the job market and in the workplace

Educational outcomes

2.      We know that young learners with disabilities and special educational needs often experience very poor qualification outcomes:

• the proportion of 16-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is over three times higher for those with disabilities (28%) than those without (8%)[1]
• 15.7% of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) attained level 2 in English and maths by age 19, compared to 80% of those with no identified SEND

Higher education

3.      Pupils with SEND are four times less likely to be in higher education[2].

Significant challenges for graduates

4.      Once they’ve graduated:

• the proportion of disabled graduates in paid employment is consistently lower than for non-disabled graduates at all levels of qualification - 79.5% in comparison with the 84.7% of graduates with no known disability[3]
• disabled graduates at all levels of qualification are significantly less likely to be in full-time employment – for example, 6.6% of graduates with first degrees in comparison with 61% of the same group with no known disability[4]

5.      We know that young disabled graduates then go on to experience challenges entering the world of work. For example:

• inaccessible application materials and assessments
• employer bias against disability and potentially their fear of the unknown
• exclusionary job requirements (for example, a driving licence requirement for an administrative position
• inaccessible application materials and assessments

6.      These challenges are not felt evenly by all disabled graduates. While 79.5% of disabled graduates are in employment, the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) 2022 report “What Happens Next”[5], identified that the lowest proportion of disabled graduates in paid employment were:

• those with two or more conditions – of whom, 41.3% are in full-time employment 
• blind/visually impaired graduates – of whom, 43.5% are in full-time employment
• autistic graduates - of whom, 36.2% are in full-time employment

Shaw Trust has commissioned research to further explore the findings of the report produced by AGCAS and will be publishing the research findings in the autumn.

7.      Many of these factors have been exacerbated by the pandemic:

• young disabled people, have experienced more challenges associated with the pandemic because job supports and resources were reduced or cancelled[6]
• disadvantaged people such as young people and adults with pre-existing conditions are at greater risk of experiencing negative outcomes from the pandemic - 37% of young disabled people aged 16-24 were in employment compared:

        55% of young non-disabled people 2020

        41% employment for young disabled people in 2019[7]

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?

8.      The transition from children’s to adults’ services can be a challenging time and young disabled people frequently face additional challenges including lack of physical access, lack of personal support and difficulties with transport and a lack of:

• information about relevant services
• holistic supports
• specialist adult services
• consistency in written transition protocols

9.      Transition plans, and for those who are eligible, Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), provide the structure needed to focus on individual views, wishes and aspirations for the young person and their parents/carers. However, SEND pupils without an EHCP face more problems in being guided on the options available to them and supported with their progression. Shaw Trust has previously called for expansion of supported internships to include SEND pupils without an EHCP. 

10.  Shaw Trust has called for the supported internship model to be extended to all children and young people who have had significant SEND support at school, but did not qualify for an EHCP, as they may still have significant needs, and could benefit greatly from supported internships.  

Scope of the inquiry

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?

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Support for young disabled people

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?

11.  Challenges for all students exist when it comes to finding employment: some are universal and others are amplified for disabled students.

Improving schools careers services

12.  Young disabled people need from inspirational, specialist careers advice from age c.13/14. It must be focused on their abilities and aspirations, rather on what they cannot do.  

13.  Careers services can support young disabled people and students as they enter the workplace by ensuring staff within the service understand the rights of disabled people as employees and are well informed to have conversations about the rights of disabled people. A comprehensive inclusive careers service should provide:

• impairment specific advice
• application support
• interview preparation and adjustments
• mentoring
• work placements

Improving further education careers services

14.  Disability services and career services in further and higher education institutions have a significant role to play in bridging the employability gap.  However, Shaw Trust primary research suggests that too often these services work in silos:

• the disability service at college and university is focused on supporting students to successfully navigate and complete their qualification
• the careers service looks beyond their current studies and helps to identify strengths and interests for exploring career options.

15.  Disabled students would benefit from these services taking a more joined up approach to the advice, guidance and support provided. Working together they can also support employers to recruit disabled graduates, including better job descriptions, understanding reasonable adjustments and changing exclusionary interview practices.

Inclusive careers services

16.  An inclusive careers service provides specific programmes tailored towards disabled students and identifying employers that are open and receptive to the talents young disabled people can offer. This would include working with disabled people already in the workforce who can talk about their own lived experiences and how they navigated the college/university career transition. They can also serve as mentors to students on an ongoing basis.

17.  Within the UK there are examples of good practice with careers information advice and guidance for young disabled people provided by Shaw Trust, Scope, Leonard Cheshire and Disability Rights UK as well as others.

Parents have an important role to play

18.  It is important that parents and carers are also fully informed of all pathways and options from school age onwards, so they are able to offer support. Our research into the graduate disability employment gap highlights of the influence that parental/carer aspiration can have on young people’s outcomes when transitioning from education into employment.

19.  However, our research shows that formal support mechanisms for graduates to seek and gain employment had better outcomes compared to the young person relying on informal support for example, from parents or friends.

But the role of disabled teachers and lecturers must not be overlooked

20.  Schools and educational institutions would benefit from harnessing the power of disabled teachers as role models to raise the expectations and aspirations of disabled pupils.

21.  However, there are too few teachers who identify as disabled, particularly in educational leadership roles. Data from the November 2022 Schools Workforce census suggested that just 2% of teachers have a disability[8]. However this figure may not be accurate as information on disability was not obtained by schools for 56% of teachers.

22.  Better data is key to improving the recruitment and retention of disabled teachers and we would urge the Department for Education to provide guidance to enable schools to consistently collect this information and address this data gap.

23.  In addition, a targeted campaign encouraging more disabled people to take up teaching as a career and building confidence to share information about disability would help to address this.

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?

24.  The extent and quality of Careers Education and Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) varies greatly both between areas and between individual schools. Alongside variations in budget and delivery methodologies, the quality of provision is undermined by a lack of knowledge or qualifications: often the CEIAG is not from a qualified advisor (sometimes the only advice young disabled people get are from SENCOs). This is not a substitute for professional advice covering, for example, supported internships or supported apprenticeships.

25.  There is a lack of accountability or data on tailored careers provision. The Department for Education sets out within its guidance for schools and colleges[9] what they expect to be in place. However, there is no explicit legal duty to tailor careers programmes for disabled students.

26.  As highlighted by the Augar report into post-18 education[10], Shaw Trust recommends a bigger focus on providers employing high qualified teachers that are able to embed theoretical concepts into work-placed learning. We are clear that all training should be regulated and have previously recommended that quality of provision needs be assured by a regulatory framework, such as Ofsted.

How 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?

27.  Shaw Education Trust is a multi-academy trust sponsored by Shaw Trust. We lead and manage academies in all phases, all sectors and in all communities.

28.  Newfriars College, part of Shaw Education Trust, has established a Vocational Pathway for our young people with a broad range of moderate learning difficulties and support needs who are developing the skills and knowledge they need to progress to the next stage, whether further study, a supported internship of apprenticeship, employment or volunteering. Each young person participates in a varied curriculum offer which is built around the skills each individual young person needs to for their future that are transferable into adulthood.

29.  Since 2018, Newfriars College, University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM), and Sodexo UK have been in partnership, to provide supported internships for young people with SEND working towards competitive paid employment for young people with additional needs.

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?

30.  This would smooth the transition for young disabled people can find the transfer from support needs funding from education to employment is challenging. Shaw Trust has recommended that the difficulties in accessing support from different government departments should be addressed jointly by DfE and DWP.

31.  We welcome DWP’s plans to introduce Access to Work passports for young people. However, the templates used are heavily dependent on the young disabled people completing them and being well informed on which reasonable adjustments they need at work. Consideration needs to be given to which professionals young people could reach out to for support to complete their passports. 

32.  Employment support mechanisms are not meeting the needs of young disabled people entering the job market for the first time. For example, the delays in assessing and processing DWP Access to Work applications for funding and grants can hinder a disabled young person being able to access the support required to commence and then sustain employment. In poorer households this can prevent people from being able to start work.  

33.  Likewise, the security systems in place around Access to Work make it particularly challenging for employment support advisers or employers to help the applicant progress their application for a grant or an award from Access to Work.  Access to independent advocacy support is limited due to cutbacks in funding and reductions in support provision. This means that many young disabled people are unable to receive support to complete Access to Work applications.

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?

34.  In Shaw Trust’s experience, young disabled people often first learn about, and engage with, employment support schemes through their Disability Employment Advisers through Work Coaches based in JCPs.

35.  Routeways and referral pathways are often difficult and challenging for young disabled people because, for example they may:

• need someone to support them when they meet with the provider – but this isn’t always available
• not know how to communicate their access needs
• have low esteem or confidence

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?

36.  Since the pandemic, at Shaw Trust has seen increasing pressure on local authorities to close EHCPs, effectively leaving young disabled people not in education, employment, or training. For some, this means their only option is to move into day opportunities when they could get paid employment. We are aware of parents and guardians who do not realise that the ECHP has ended.

37.  This needs urgent attention: people would benefit from having an agreed transition plan before EHCPs end, even if employment is not an option.

Public services as good employers

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?

38.  Public sector employers should be leading the way with being deeply informed about the Equality Act and the application of reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process itself, such as working interviews, work trials.

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?

39.  The UK could look to Australia’s DES- ESS scheme which worked with local schools to recruit disabled people onto the employment programme before they leave school.

40.  DES is delivered by a mix of large, medium and small, for-profit and not-for-profit organisations that support disabled people and providers to work with employers to help them develop practices that support the employee in the workplace.

41.  People with disability may be eligible for one of two different DES programmes depending on their disability:

• the Disability Management Service is for jobseekers with disability, injury or health condition who need assistance to find a job and occasional support in the workplace to sustain a job
• the Employment Support Service provides assistance to jobseekers with a permanent disability to find a job and who need regular, ongoing support in the workplace to sustain a job

Support for employers

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?

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

42.  Shaw Trust has highlighted the need to set up an employer information resource and one-stop shop. The online service giving employers tools to better support disabled people and those with long-term health conditions in the workplace is a step in this direction. Employers in our experience need support to improve awareness of schemes, alongside employer awareness about:

• reasonable adjustment duties under the Equality Act
• workplace discrimination
• flexible working, rights and obligations around reasonable adjustments
• fairness in redundancy situations
• occupational health and mental health conditions

43.    Employees and potential applicants would also benefit from access to resources focused on protections under the Equality Act, access to specialist advice and awareness of Access to Work grants and funding.

What actions could employers be taking without government support? What barriers prevent them doing so?

44.  There are significant commercial benefits to be gained by employers opening up opportunities to young disabled people:

• recruiting disabled people offers employers access to a significant, and largely untapped, pool of talent
• a business with a reputation for being socially responsible can gain significant competitive advantage in the marketplace[11]

Work experience and work-based trials

45.  Work experience and work-based trials are:

• the stepping-stones for this transition and give young people and opportunity to try out different careers and work environments and whether this would be a career that they would want to further pursue
• give employers opportunity to see the talents of young disabled people that would not necessarily be demonstrated during traditional application routes.

46.  Employers who undertake work experience and work trials are frequently supported by an external organisation and benefit from awareness and confidence to apply the practical application of making adjustments from the start. This gives the confidence to make adjustments elsewhere in the employee life cycle.

47.  Employers need to be encouraged to seek out local and national employment service provisions to establish relationships and partnerships with providers who have young disabled people wanting to transition from education into employment.

Language

48.  Our research suggests that language has important role when used in job postings.  Graduates reported that they were more confident to discuss their suitability for a position and access needs when employers were proactive about mentioning adjustments throughout the application process.

Adjustments

49.  In general, the cost of making reasonable adjustments is low and often funded partly or wholly by the government, through the Access to Work scheme. However, awareness of the Access to Work scheme is low for the majority of employers (particularly during the recruitment and employment process). Employers could increase their knowledge of Access to Work, addressing this issue. A survey by Disability Rights UK, 37% of UK businesses stated that a single gateway for information and advice would help businesses in employing disabled people.[12]

50.  The Centre for Social Justice report “Now Is The Time” sponsored by Shaw Trust” recommends a ‘What Works Centre’ for disability employment best practice would be well placed to synthesise knowledge and research on the policies and practices that would, in a multitude of different ways, support disabled people, and also provide specific guidance and interventions tailored to the needs of specific groups.

SMEs

51.  There is a gap with SMEs employing disabled people – this may in part be related to:

• SMEs lacking the resources or back-office support to seek out new employment routes for their vacancies
• the Disability Confident scheme is not tailored to SMEs which can undermine their participation
• SMEs also do not access Disability Confident Leaders who can support

Enforcement of the Enforcement of the rights of disabled people in the workplace

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?

52.  The drive to reduce the disability employment gap, and support disabled people to progress in work, needs to be underpinned by strong rights for disabled workers.

53.  Despite the 2010 Equality Act requirement for employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and those with health conditions, research shows that:

• 67% of respondents to Unison’s 2019 research into ‘Disability Equality in the Workplace’ had some, or all, of their requests for adjustments refused[13]
• the stigma associated with mental health in the workplace has grown significantly since 2009
• there has been a 17% decline in the number of employers who would be flexible in offering adjustments or accommodations to employees with mental health conditions since 2009[14]

54.  Shaw Trust is a founding signatory of the Disability Employment Charter[15], which is calling for:

• action to decisively reduce the gap in employment between disabled people and the general population
• an increase in disabled people’s access to employment programmes and apprenticeships and increasing the scale, quality and awareness of supported employment programmes (and supported internships)
• an increase the provision of tailored careers advice to disabled people

55.  The Charter:

• sets out proposals to setting a two-week limit for decision-making regarding requests for adjustments and improvements to Access to Work which is important to supporting disabled job seekers and employees
• calls for removal of the Access to Work support cap and for government to also ensure application/renewal processes are efficient, personalised, and flexible
• says government should facilitate passporting of awards between organisations and from Disabled Student’s Allowance to Access to Work and increase awareness of Access to Work support

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?

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September 2023