Dr Charlotte Pearson*, Prof Janice McLaughlin et al - Written

evidence (YDP0029)

*Dr Pearson is Specialist adviser to the PSC for this inquiry

Written evidence from the Disability and Youth Transitions project

Disability and Youth Transitions project

Disability and Youth Transitions (https://disabilityandyouthtransitions.co.uk/) is an ESRC-funded,

30-month project (January 2023-June 2025), exploring the experiences of disabled young people as they move towards adulthood, in Glasgow and its surrounding areas and in the North East of England.

Through this research, we are working to understand more about all aspects of disabled young people’s lives during this crucial period – including education and training, their housing situation, employment and volunteering, health and social care, social lives and relationships – exploring what works and what does not work in supporting disabled young people. We are doing this by talking with disabled young people over time about their experiences; using creative techniques such as photography to enable them to represent their experiences; talking with their families and advocacy groups about their experiences of supporting disabled young people; and bringing disabled young people together to identify differences and similarities in their experiences. The latter is important in the context of this research project, which cuts across Scotland and England as well as across different local authority areas, which means the experiences of the disabled young people taking part may be quite different depending on where they live, not least because many of these policy areas are devolved.

Our academic project team consists of Professor Janice McLaughlin, Professor Tracy Shildrick, Dr Katie Salmon and Amanda Bailey (Newcastle University); Dr Charlotte Pearson, Professor Nick Watson and Dr Jane Cullingworth (University of Glasgow); and Dr Edmund Coleman-Fountain (University of York). Several team members have a long track record of researching disabled young people’s lives.

The project’s work is informed and strengthened by an expert advisory group, chaired by Disability North and including representatives from Glasgow Disability Alliance, ARC Scotland (Scottish Transitions Forum), Children North East and Investing in Children. Most importantly, we are working with a group of disabled young people in both sites – across the lifetime of the project – to shape how we undertake all parts of this research, including the analysis and dissemination of its findings.

This submission is made on behalf of the project’s academic team, and relates to the focus of the Committee’s inquiry – alongside some of the early, emerging findings from our research regarding education and employment – which fall under Questions 1 and 1a in the call for evidence. We also highlight a good practice example of the development of the ‘Principles of Good Transitions’ and ‘Principles into Practice’ framework by the Scottish Transitions Forum and ARC Scotland.

Focus of the Committee’s inquiry

We note that the first oral evidence session held for this inquiry covered the broad subject: ‘Access to public services for young disabled people’, but the topic has since been narrowed down to: ‘The transition from education to employment for young disabled people’.

Whilst we understand that the Committee will want to ensure that its work remains focussed, we are concerned that this narrower scope may exclude a number of broader policy issues which can be fundamental to disabled young people being able to move from education into work, and to sustaining this employment (or can act as significant barriers to being able to do so). These include, but are not limited to:

• The availability, affordability and reliability of accessible transport.
• The availability, affordability and location of appropriate housing, should disabled young people want to live independently.
• Access to appropriate and timely healthcare.
• Access to social care support, where this is relevant.
• Digital exclusion.
• The adequacy of social security payments (both disability-related and income-related).

We further note that the call for evidence makes no reference to the role of volunteering, which – despite being officially categorised as ‘economic inactivity’ – can be a significant and valuable way for disabled young people to contribute to the workplace and society.

Nor does the call for evidence make any reference to the role of parents and carers, and the information, advice and guidance they may need in order to be able to support their young adult children to move from education into work.

The scope of this inquiry also potentially excludes the experiences of a significant proportion of disabled young people, for whom paid employment may never be a viable option – yet the support they receive, services they can access, and opportunities available to them to lead fulfilling lives are of equal importance.

Finally, the call for evidence does not acknowledge the significant role that many disabled young people undertake as employers within their own homes – where they can be responsible for recruiting and managing a range of personal assistants (PAs) and/or care workers, managing budgets, producing rotas, securing or delivering training, and engaging with the PAYE system – yet do not always receive the support and guidance they need to undertake this often intensive work.[1] Focussing solely on the transition from education to the workplace can obscure how disabled young people may take up distinctive forms of work, which should also be recognised and supported.

We therefore urge the Committee to return to these issues if they are not covered by this inquiry.

Emerging themes from our research

From the early interviews that have taken place with disabled young people as part of our project, there are a number of emerging themes relating specifically to education and employment:

• Negative or scarring experiences at school – such as bullying and/or a lack of appropriate support or accessibility – can deter disabled young people from entering further education or the workplace. They can also limit the opportunity to gain the skills or qualifications that can enable a transition to further education and employment.
• A lack of guidance or preparation for life after education (from school/college), creating a sense of disorientation and being ‘adrift’ – in some cases resulting in mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
• A lack of creativity, imagination or aspiration for disabled young people at school and college – which sees them channelled away from a range of academic subjects and career pathways towards limited versions of life skills and employability, which may restrict future career opportunities and are not shaped by the interests or perspectives of disabled young people themselves.
• A lack of co-production in the development of services and provision of options, resulting in services and options that do not meet disabled young people’s needs and interests.
• A lack of appropriate support, choice and direction in further and higher education leading to a sense of failure and then ‘giving up’ on education and employment.
• Being referred to employment programmes or internships that are not appropriate or fail to take account of a young person’s needs or impairment (an example being a young person with autism and social anxiety being placed in a receptionist role).
• As a result of the above, disabled young people may seek online forms of work – which can be beneficial, but may also contribute to social isolation and potentially exploitation.
• Ineffective communication about schemes that are available to support disabled young people, for example the Access to Work programme. An example has been provided of an employer who – once they learned about the Access to Work scheme – worked co-productively with a young person to arrange for them to take taxis to and from work, thereby facilitating their access to the workplace.
• Disabled young people’s contribution to the workplace not always being properly recognised or valued, as it is often in the form of volunteering (which can also generate the risk of exploitation).
• Concerns about the perceived or actual threat to social security payments posed by paid work.
• The important role employers can play in facilitating access to the workplace. Positive examples have included an employer who has supported a young person to work almost exclusively from home; and an employer who has actively engaged with a young person to learn about, and provide for, their accessibility needs.

Good practice

We recommend the Committee explores the ‘Principles of Good Transitions’ developed following extensive consultation with stakeholders (including disabled young people) by the Scottish Transitions Forum, with the aim of providing ‘a framework to inform, structure and encourage the continual improvement of support for young people with additional needs between the ages of 14 and 25 who are making the transition to young adult life’.[2]

This work identified the following, seven overarching ‘Principles of Good Transitions’ ‘that can be used by professionals from all sectors…this includes those responsible for planning and delivering support for children and young people with additional support needs’ – including professionals in education (secondary, further and higher) and employment and training:

1. Planning and decision making should be carried out in a person-centred way
2. Support should be co-ordinated across all services
3. Planning should start early and continue up to age 25
4. All young people should get the support they need
5. Young people, parents and carers must have access to the information they need
6. Families and carers need support
7. A continued focus on transitions across Scotland

This work has since been further developed – again following extensive stakeholder consultation – with the publication of the ‘Principles into Practice’ framework by the Scottish Transitions Forum/ARC Scotland, which is intended ‘to embed the Principles of Good Transitions into policy, planning and practice.’[3]

The framework was successfully piloted in ten local authority areas in Scotland between 2020-2023[4] before being officially ‘launched’ in June 2023, with all local authority areas in Scotland now being encouraged to adopt the Principles of Good Transitions and associated framework.

To support this work, ARC Scotland (which co-ordinates the Scottish Transitions Forum) has also launched Compass, a new online tool for disabled young people, their parents and carers, and the professionals who support them with the transition to young adult life – to provide a one-stop source of personalised information and guidance tailored to each young person’s needs and interests.[5]

This comprehensive, joined-up and person-centred approach to planning/supporting the transition to adulthood for disabled young people recognises the importance of supporting every aspect of a disabled young person’s life – including the transition from education to employment where that is appropriate, as well as those areas which can enable or prevent a disabled young person from accessing and sustaining employment (see page 1 of this submission). We believe this type of holistic approach could and should be replicated in local authority areas in England, however – as in Scotland – to be meaningful, this would require properly-resourced support services and leadership to also be in place.

September 2023