Written evidence from DFN Project SEARCH (YDP0043)
Background
DFN Project SEARCH is a charity that provides a one-year transition to work supported internship model for young adults with learning disabilities and autism. We work in partnership across the public, private and voluntary sectors to create unique internships that young people undertake during their last year of education, helping them to make positive transitions from education to the world of work.
Nationally only 4.8% of people with special educational needs and disabilities gain permanent paid employment in the UK, yet 70% of our graduate’s gain jobs and up to 60% of them go on to full-time permanent roles.
With the largest data set in the UK, our evidence-based model challenges misconceptions and enables young adults with learning disabilities and autism reach their full potential through employment.
It has a transformative effect on the interns who take part. Students use and apply their skills and learning every day, ensuring that they are ready to move seamlessly into the workplace as skilled and effective employees. Our partners include the NHS, Amazon, Asda, DPD, Goldman Sachs, Schroders and more.
As a charity that actively supports young disabled people’s transition from education to employment, we are responding to the inquiry and providing a short selection of case studies and an executive summary of our data which you can view in the appendix.
Young disabled people in the UK face several significant barriers when leaving education and entering the job market and world of work. These barriers not only make it challenging for disabled people to access employment opportunities, but it can also prohibit them from gaining meaningful employment.
Here at DFN Project SEARCH, we are clear to distinguish between paid employment and meaningful employment. Paid employment is simply a job that renumerates individuals for their time. Meaningful employment is employment that fulfils an individual’s needs, provides job satisfaction and enables the individual to progress on a career path.
The key barriers to leaving education and entering the workplace are:
Lack of Understanding: Young adults with learning disabilities often encounter discrimination, bullying and negative stereotypes from employers and colleagues.
About 30% of our host business survey’s respondents said that young disabled people suffer discrimination from colleagues, and 5% said they suffer discrimination from clients when doing placements at a business.
Preconceived notions about their capabilities can limit their job prospects before a career had begun.
We have anecdotal evidence from our business liaisons that highlight a failure from a variety of companies to understand the needs and abilities of our graduates. Our biggest challenge is that employers are hesitant to hire young adults with learning disabilities due to concerns about accommodating their needs (e.g. a job coach supporting them) or potential productivity issues. This attitude creates a hostile job market.
Transportation Challenges: Inadequate public transportation options can make it difficult for young adults with disabilities to commute to work. Transport to work is one of the biggest concerns parents and carers have. Most young adults with SEND will require support on their commute to work, this limits the geographical region in which they can apply for jobs and consequently, their job choices. We have anecdotal evidence about the lack of accessible public transport across the UK and this has often been the deciding factor for parents/carers on whether a young person will complete one of our supported internships.
Inadequate Support Services: Insufficient support services, such as a lack of funding for job coaches, can have a detrimental impact on transition from education to employment for young disabled people. Young people on a supported internship benefit from a wide range of support services throughout their placement which enables the young person to do their job. This support being withdrawn is the equivocal to withdrawing a workplace adjustment. We believe follow-on job coaching to support a young person should be fully funded to enable young adults to transition successfully into the workplace.
Lack of Accessibility: Many workplaces, schools and colleges may not be fully accessible for young adults with learning disabilities. This physical barrier can make it difficult for disabled individuals to access necessary facilities and receive a high-quality education.
Limited Awareness of Opportunities: Another barrier is the limited awareness of opportunities available. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the majority of people across the UK do not know what a supported internship or supported employment is. This can result in small uptakes for programmes designed to support young adults with disabilities into employment, which in turn makes the programmes unsustainable for future generations.
Mental Health and Well-Being: The stress and anxiety associated with facing these barriers can take a toll on the mental health and well-being of any individual, affecting their confidence and overall job market readiness.
Scope of the inquiry
We support the inquiries approach to not specifically focus on young adults with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This is for two reasons.
First, young disabled people without a EHCP have the same needs as those with it. Moreover, young disabled people without an EHCP have fewer opportunities to join transition to work programmes, which are critical to entering the job market, as EHC plans often fund them.
Second is due to what is commonly referred to as the 4-to-1 ‘gender gap’. Historically, boys were far more likely to be diagnosed with autism or other learning disabilities than their female counterparts. This could be for several reasons, including:
As a result of this gender gap latest government data shows that 71.8% of children and young people with an EHCP are male, with 28.1% female. By removing the focus on EHCPs for your inquiry, you are allowing a more holistic analysis on transitions to employment for both boys and girls across the UK.
Young Disabled People and Supported internships
The education system has a key role in supporting young disabled people into employment, but they should not be solely responsible. Partnerships between colleges, businesses, government, and supported employment agencies are known to be more effective in helping young disabled people to enter and stay in the job market.
National statistics show that less than 5% of people with a learning disability are employed. Supported internships are a proven approach that links different actors (education system, local government, business, and supported employment providers) that significantly increases the chances of employment for young disabled people. DFN Project SEARCH’s employment rate is up to 70%, with most jobs being full-time.
The goal of a supported internship is to provide an experience that allows necessary skill development opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities to compete for employment. Our supported internship model means young people receive:
Supported internships are a fantastic way to help reduce the disability employment gap whilst being beneficial to employers. Not only do they provide access to a diverse talent stream with skills that match labour needs, but studies have shown an increase in company morale and better staff retention rates once programmes are underway. We have seen a steady business demand for supported internships across the UK, but employers require government to remove transitional barriers to adopt these schemes.
At this current time young adults with learning disabilities encounter several challenges when accessing supported employment schemes, which makes employers and local authorities cautious over the financial viability of such initiatives.
The first challenge in England is around how supported internship schemes are communicated to young disabled people. Given the complexities around SEND funding, often, education providers and local authorities will try to offer alternative provision “in house” to ensure funding remains at their disposal on their own terms. As a result, external schemes may not be communicated to young people in certain areas, even if they are of more relevance or higher quality. Schemes that are communicated are also at risk of being a lower quality. It is essential that education provision aligns with the labour market.
A further communication challenge is that families across the UK are not aware of support schemes like supported internships. Admittedly, they are a relatively new initiative in the UK but despite this, their success and quality has been well documented. The Government and education providers should be taking a more proactive effort in raising awareness of these schemes.
The key barrier when transitioning from education-based support to employment is the lack of available support (e.g. job coaches) that will enable the young person to apply for jobs and once successful, transition into employment support. This is referred to as follow-on support and is often required for young people with learning disabilities and autism spectrum conditions.
Unfortunately, follow-on support is difficult to access for the majority of young people with the most common barrier being funding. As a result, young people who have completed a supported employment scheme risk being deskilled and lose confidence. The lack of follow-on support is also a major concern for parents and carers, and without this support structure in place they are reluctant to allow those with SEND to transition into employment.
While Access to Work support funding is available, many are not aware of how to access it. We understand Access to Work is a vital tool in helping disabled people access the adjustments and support they need to stay in work. But too often disabled people face delays in receiving equipment, are assigned the wrong type of support or cannot transfer their award onto a new job. There are also gaps in provision between Disabled Students Allowance and Access to Work. For some disabled people, the cap on financial support also blocks access to, and progress in, work.
We have included three case studies from our graduates in this submission which you can view in the appendix.
Public service employers
Watch DFN Project SEARCH Graduate, BibI’s journey here. Bibi completed a supported internship and now works in a busy A&E department, challenging stereotypes around learning disabilities whilst enjoying a meaningful career.
As indicated by DFN Project SEARCH data, the NHS, which has only committed to recruit more disabled people, has been increasing the diversity of their workforce. The NHS not only recruits about 50% of DFN Project SEARCH interns but also more often offer them full-time, permanent contracts and pay them more than other employers.
NHS outcomes in the past 6 cohorts
2016-2017 to 2021-22
While the NHS has been a fantastic public service employer, other public services could be taking a more proactive approach. The most common form of ‘access’ for a young adult with a learning disability to a public service job is through the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) as part of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. The scheme was designed to encourage employers to proactively recruit disabled individuals and provide them with equal opportunities in the job market.
The main feature of the GIS was that disabled candidates who met the minimum job requirements were guaranteed an interview when applying for a job with an employer who was a Disability Confident employer and had chosen to participate in the scheme.
While this is useful in practice, this does not benefit young adults who are looking for entry level roles or who are at the beginning of their public sector careers. Our recommendation would be for the Civil Service and other public services to have diversity schemes (such as a supported internship) within their organisations that specifically target young adults with disabilities. This would enable young adults to transition into public sector careers and increase the likelihood of meeting the two minimum job requirements required for the existing guaranteed interview scheme.
As it currently stands, despite the Government launching the Internships Work Commission and supporting supported internships, not a single Government Department currently hosts supported internships.
Our data shows that between half and a third of all interns employed are hired by host business, even in businesses that initially did not plan to hire them.
During the placements, manager, colleagues, and clients understand the positive impact that young people can have on businesses, as evidenced by DFN Project SEARCH’s host business survey.
Like anyone else, young disabled people need to support to learn work-related tasks and develop their career. Supported internship is an approach that provides young disabled people the work and soft skills they need to enter and stay in the marketplace.
Support for employers: What can the Government do?
Government programmes such as Disability Confident are also successful to a certain degree. We believe that Disability Confident encourages organisations to expand their diversity and inclusion efforts to disabled people and for many organisations, this prompts a review of adaptions and processes. However, we believe the scheme could be improved.
As founding members of the Disability Employment Charter, we believe that the accreditation criteria for Disability Confident should be based on employers’ disability employment outcomes alongside the processes and practices they have implemented. At this current time, an employer can be accredited at levels 1 and 2 of the scheme without having shown that they have employed even one disabled person. There are 18,000 employers signed up to the scheme but we are no closer to reducing the Disability Employment Gap
It would be useful if employers were expected to move up the Disability Confident levels rather than sit at level 1 indefinitely as they would be incentivised to offer higher quality opportunities and improve their offer to young disabled people. Hence the proposal to remove accreditation from employers if they do not move up within 3 years from level 1 to levels 2 or 3.
Another way way in which the government would be able to increase the uptake to its disability support schemes in the public sector is by introducing a new social value procurement model. The UK government spends £292 billion annually buying goods and services from external suppliers, amounting to one third of public expenditure. Government has procurement contracts with tens of thousands of suppliers, who together employ very large numbers of people.
The number of people who work for organisations who bid for and deliver public sector contracts therefore constitutes a significant proportion of the total workforce in the UK.
Targeting these employers is therefore a direct route by which the government can reduce the disability employment gap. At this current time, contracting authorities can choose disability employment as one of the social value criteria on which they can ask tendering organisations to compete, there is no requirement for contracting authorities to do so.
We believe that current procurement rules can be strengthened to ensure organisations that bid for public sector contracts are encouraged to hire and retain disabled people in greater numbers.
For us, the key to supporting disabled people transition into work is data. To fully understand the experiences of existing disabled staff, employers need to collect the right information in the right way. This data will help inform the support required for the future workforce.
Collecting data on how many disabled people an organisation employs in a standardised manner will give employers better data on the percentage of disabled people they employ relative to the national average, and relative to other employers.
Collecting data on their pay gap will tell employers if they are paying their disabled staff at the same level as their non-disabled colleagues. Measuring the percentage of disabled employees in each pay quartile will also allow employers to assess whether disabled people are represented equally across the organisational hierarchy rather than clustering into lower-level roles. This will help the government and charities, like ourselves, work towards meaningful employment opportunities.
Summary
We fully support the Public Service’s Committee in its investigation into the transition from education to employment for young disabled people. As a charity dedicated to providing high quality outcomes for young adults with learning disabilities and autism spectrum conditions, we believe the most pressing challenges to a successful transition are funding for follow-on-support, the lack of awareness of supported internships, and the EHCP requirement to access funding/support schemes.
We would therefore recommend the following:
The UK Government should provide funded follow-along support for young adults with learning disabilities who have completed a supported internship or transition to employment scheme.
The UK Government should remove the EHCP criteria to allow young adults across the UK, particularly women and girls, to access supported internships and disability schemes
The Civil Service should have a diversity scheme (such as a supported internship) in every major government department that specifically targets disability to help broaden access to the public sector
The Government should introduce Disability Pay Gap reporting to help tailor its support to disabled people across the UK
September 2023
Our data (appendix)
1. Case Studies
Here you will find three case studies.
Introducing Toseef (Case Study)
Tosef believed his disability meant it would be impossible to get a job, let alone have a career. However with the support of his colleagues, he applied for a supported internship programme. Tosef has since graduated from the programme and is an Engagement Support Worker at an NHS hospital. He is also a Learning Disability Champion and recently gave a speech about his experience at the Nursing and Midwifery Conference.
Before DFN Project SEARCH
“My disability meant that the idea of getting a full-time paid job doing work I would enjoy, especially in the NHS, seemed nearly impossible...I thought I would be like the other 95%”. With. the support of his local college, Toseef successfully applied for our programme.
During DFN Project SEARCH
“Doing an internship in the NHS is extraordinary. I met people I wanted to help. and I felt important. One of the things I wanted to do, but was also scared to do, was to learn to use a defibrillator and the programme promised me that. Little did I know that would be part of my average day.” Toseef’s attention to detail resulted. in him receiving a CHFT star award from the NHS, a moment he was”really proud of” and since then he has earned a permanent job in the hospital.
After DFN Project SEARCH
Recently, Toseef has begun mentoring other young people with learning disabilities who are coming onto the supported internship programme. Speaking on this experience he said “I just can’t wait, because I know the internship will change their lives like it changed mine.”
Introducing Cameron (Case Study)
Cameron Smith is currently 27 years old and owns a three bedroom house in East Kilbride, Scotland. He has a rewarding job at the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD). Cameron believes his career at SCLD would not have been possible if he hadn’t taken part in a DFN Project SEARCH programme when he left school in 2013.
Before DFN Project SEARCH
Cameron attended a mainstream school, where he was a vocal participant in the classroom but struggled when it came to socialising outside of lessons. He remembers “hiding away at lunch”, partly because he was shy and “didn’t really know what to say to folks” and partly because he often found himself the target of bullying.
Like many young people, Cameron thought college was his only option when he left school and worried he would find himself unemployed when he completed his studies. When an application form found its way onto the desk of his career advisor, Cameron was excited to find a programme where he could learn real life skills and most importantly, find employment.
During DFN Project SEARCH
Cameron’s DFN Project SEARCH journey began at University Hospital Hairmyres. As part of the programme, Cameron undertook a variety of rotations including patient facing roles in the Audiology Department, desk based roles in the Orthopaedic Department and spending time as a hospital porter. Commenting on the depth of experience, Cameron said “I was coming home buzzing every day.
During his second rotation at DFN Project SEARCH, Cameron found he had been successful in his application to a part time (16 hours per week) receptionist job at SCLD. However, his journey did not stop there. After 2½ years, he progressed into a new role as an Events and Information Assistant. This time, he would be working five days a week in his first full time job ever.
After DFN Project SEARCH
In 2021, Cameron was promoted again to the role of Development Worker. In this role, he facilitates National Networks and represents his organisation at cross party parliamentary committees, delivering presentations and learning disability awareness training at international events.
Cameron is grateful to DFN Project SEARCH for helping him to get his first job which led to his current role. He says, “Without my job, I wouldn’t be able to have my house, go on my first holiday.” He is a passionate advocate for DFN Project SEARCH, speaking about the programme and the impact it had on his life, whenever he gets the chance, including at the World Down’s Syndrome Congress in Glasgow, 2018.
Cameron is just one of many young people across the UK with learning disabilities who have benefited from a supported internship. Here at DFN Project SEARCH, we are on a mission to get 10,000 young people with SEND into paid employment by 2030.
The final case study is for DFN Project SEARCH Graduate Bibi. This is a video case study which you can watch here.
- Host Business Survey
DFN Project SEARCH undertook an in-depth analysis to understand how host businesses perceive the impact of interns during the placements. Business liaisons, who are host businesses’ employees who support the programme, answered a comprehensive survey. Their responses are summarised here.
