Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – Written evidence (YDP0055)
This Government is absolutely committed to improving the lives of disabled people and is delivering the most ambitious disability reform agenda in a generation. We are proud to have a proven track record of increasing disability employment and acting on disability discrimination, providing vital protections.
In 2017 the Government set a goal to see a million more disabled people in employment between 2017 and 2027. Between Q1 2017 and Q1 2022 the number of disabled people in employment increased by 1.3m – meaning the goal was met after only five years. There were 5.1m disabled people in employment in the UK in Q2 2023. This is an increase of 2.2m since the same quarter in 2013, the earliest comparable year, up to the start of the pandemic, and so, the general trend in disability employment has been positive.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for providing employment support, including employment support for disabled people of all ages. As the UK’s biggest public service department, it administers, through Jobcentre Plus (JCP), a range of services such as job matching, benefits and welfare support, employment support and work-related training services to around 20 million claimants. JCPs also host job fairs and careers events, supporting both job seekers and employers. Therefore, we will be responding to questions the inquiry poses that relate to these areas.
Committee Questions
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?
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?
We have responded to these questions from the Committee together as they feature similar themes.
The DWP is conscious that young people, including disabled young people, leaving education will have several options when transitioning from education and therefore we believe the Committee is correct to not focus on one specific group of young disabled people.
DWP supports everyone and we have a strong focus on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions of all ages to start, stay and succeed in work. We provide specialised support through Disability Employment Advisors (DEAs) in JCPs. DEAs work with leaders to link Jobcentre staff with local partners, to strengthen knowledge of and access to local support available for people with health conditions and disabilities. DEAs and Disability Employment Adviser Leaders (DEALs) will focus their activities to ensure work coaches are supported when helping claimants who need more time and have challenging circumstances. DEAs use their considerable experience during 3-way conversations between work coaches and claimants, as well as offering guidance before and after those conversations. DEAs will continue to upskill the work coaches on how to support disabled people including how to tailor conditionality where appropriate. In addition, DEAs and DEALs support local authorities and organisations to work together to support those claimants who need the most help.
The DEA role has recently been strengthened by providing direct support to customers with a health condition or disability that requires additional support over and above the ESA (Employment Support Allowance) and Universal Credit core offer, DEA Direct Support delivers work focussed bespoke support to move individuals with a disability or health condition closer to work. This will enable DEAs to continue to use their expertise to support colleagues whilst providing some level of direct support to disabled individuals who would benefit most. This will also ensure DEAs have current knowledge and experience of Work Coach delivery in their advisory capacity. DEAs are trained to discover and understand how a range of conditions might affect a person's ability to look for and undertake work, using several methods to learn the facts from customers.
We would like to share details of the three schemes that are particularly relevant to young disabled people and in which DWP is heavily involved. They are the Adjustments Passport, the Access to Work Scheme and Supported Internships.
Adjustments Passport
The DWP and the Department for Education (DfE), including the devolved nations of Scotland and Wales, are testing a series of Adjustments Passports which provide an up-to-date record of the adjustments young people, including those with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP), may need or have used during education and/or work placements. The Adjustments Passport also captures any additional adjustments they may need when they move into employment.
The Adjustments Passport provides the young person with a focused and up-to-date document that captures their adjustments and provides a useful communication tool to support conversations with employers. The Adjustments Passport can be used if one has a disability or health condition that makes it harder for them to move into work or stay in a job. A job could also include self-employment, an apprenticeship, work experience or a supported internship.
During development of the Adjustments Passport, feedback from students and education providers highlighted there is a lack of awareness of the support available when transitioning to employment. This is compounded by multiple channels of information with little join up or alignment, meaning the level of information/knowledge of where to go and how to access support can be overwhelming or absent from young disabled people's perspective. This can lead to lowering of or not realising their career opportunities and potentially taking job opportunities below their skillset.
The Adjustments Passport is working to address this by raising awareness of support available for students as they enter and move through their education journey to support a transition into employment, enabling their career aspirations to be realised.
Access to Work
Access to Work is a discretionary grant that provide support for people with a disability or health condition to move into work or retain employment. Access to Work can provide funding for the extra disability related costs of working that are more than the standard reasonable adjustments that an employer is expected to provide under the Equality Act. The grant can provide tailored support to meet the needs of the individual up to £66,000 per person per year.
For those students whose in work support needs cannot be met by reasonable adjustments or the standard Access to Work offer, Access to Work Plus (AtW+) is testing an enhanced offer of support, enabling people with complex disabilities, such as learning disabilities or complex autism, to move into employment. It also asks employers to think differently about their vacancies and consider if they can adapt, shape or flex job roles to enable a disabled person to retain, return or move into employment.
The enhanced support includes indefinite job coaching and funding for employers who are willing to shape job roles or workplaces, which could benefit supported interns who need more support than is currently available to secure employment.
Supported Internships
Autistic or learning-disabled young people on their transition to employment can benefit from Supported Internships, which are aimed at young people with a learning disability or autism who have an EHCP. Supported Internships usually last for 12 months and provide support from a specialist job coach. The DfE lead on this in England, and the DWP provides support through Access to Work where needed.
On 2 April 2023, World Autism Acceptance Day, DWP announced the launch of a new review into autism and employment. The review is being led by Sir Robert Buckland MP and is exploring ways to increase the number of autistic people in employment and to improve retention rates. Amongst the issues the review is considering are how autistic young people are prepared for work, how careers guidance works for them, what support mechanisms are available to build their confidence and aspirations and what recruitment process work best for them.
Support for young disabled people
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? How 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?
We recognise that supporting young disabled people is essential for a smooth transition from education into employment, which in turn is likely to have a positive impact in bridging the disability employment gap.
DWP is aware that there can in places be a lack of awareness of the support available to young people when leaving education and transitioning to employment and has the following in place to influence this:
Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools
DWP is working with the Disabled Students Commitment, Office for Students and National Association of Disability Practitioners to develop information and the further join up and understanding of the support available from when a young person makes their initial career choices in school through to entering employment for the first time.
By way of the JCP Support for Schools duty, DWP deploys specialist Schools Advisers nationally, who can attend schools to offer coaching and support to young people within certain school settings, prior to age 16. Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools supports young people, including those with disabilities, identified as being in danger of becoming Not in Employment Education or Training (NEET) or who might otherwise be disadvantaged in the labour market. This support includes:
Access to Work
Staff in education settings working with young people with EHCPs and other young disabled people participating in or undertaking a vocational programme will work with the Access to Work scheme in order to receive support for their work placement. The support from Access to Work is available for up to 39 weeks of the vocational programme with further ongoing support available from the end of the vocational programme, supporting the transition into employment.
Disability Employment Advisers
DEAs build links between Jobcentres and staff in education settings. DEAs organise events and attend Job Fairs where they promote employment support for disabled people, including sector-based work academy programmes. DEALs link DEAs and other Jobcentre staff with local partners, to strengthen knowledge of and access to local support available for people with health conditions and disabled people.
DEALs, working alongside our DEAs link with work that is happening in the local community to drive the disability employment agenda, and in collaboration with colleagues, are actively promoting DWP services such as Access to Work and Disability Confident to external organisations and providers.
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? 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?
Access to Work
For young disabled people, normally, the first point of engagement with Access to Work is at the point of a vocational programme, undertaking a work placement, or entering employment whilst in education.
Information relating to Access to Work is available to young disabled people leaving education via Jobcentre Plus, Disabled Students Officers and other support networks. Acknowledging there are other avenues at which awareness of support available could be utilised, the Adjustments Passport is working to raise awareness of Access to Work alongside other support when entering or transitioning to employment.
Disability Employment Adviser
Young disabled people can be introduced to the range of employment support schemes through their Work Coaches and/or DEAs. The DEAs work alongside other colleagues (Work Coaches and Employment Advisers) in the department to support with Job Matching; matching the employment needs of the employee with the needs of an individual. This offer of support may also be made to the employer and/or employee, where the employee requires help to retain employment due to a health condition or disability.
Young disabled people engage with Work Coaches in Jobcentres. DEAs support Work Coaches by providing expert knowledge on how to support disabled people and building the skills and capability of Work Coaches. DEAs can also directly support disabled people by delivering bespoke specialist support above the core employment support offer.
DEA is an enabling role that is seeking to ensure that the right support is available to help claimants who have a health condition or disability to find and sustain employment.
DEAs focus on up-skilling and supporting Work Coaches to deliver an excellent service to claimants who have a health condition or disability. They also link DWP strategic priorities with work that is happening in the local community to drive the disability employment agenda. In collaboration with colleagues, DEAs actively promote DWP services for example Access to Work, the Health Adjustment Passport and Disability Confident to external organisations and providers.
Additional Work Coach Support
Additional Work Coach Support provides disabled people and people with health conditions with increased one-to-one personalised support from their work coach to help them move towards, and into, work. This work coach support is available for claimants on Universal Credit (UC) health journey and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) that want, or could benefit from, more help to move into work. Through this additional time, Work Coaches aim to build engagement, better understand individuals’ circumstances, and provide tailored support.
Additional Work Coach Support is already available in two-thirds of Jobcentres in England, Scotland and Wales. Budget 2023 announced even greater investment - enabling more people to access support and improved access to wider employment/skills opportunities and it will be available nationally (GB-wide) in 2024. This intensive support will enable disabled people to access employment/wider skills support, and DWP employment programmes earlier. The support is tailored to the individual’s needs using the most appropriate channel for support including face-to-face, telephone, video conference or digital appointments for Universal Credit customers.
The roll out of Additional Work Coach Support will provide robust evidence, including quantitative data, on the impact of additional Work Coach time on outcomes for people on a health journey to inform future investment decisions.
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? What steps could be taken to improve awareness and uptake of relevant government support schemes? What actions could employers be taking without Government support? What barriers prevent them doing so?
Disability Confident
Disability Confident is voluntary scheme which supports employers to make the most of the talents of disabled people, regardless of age or condition. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. As of 31st August 2023, there are over 18,000 members of the scheme.
Disability Confident is a business-to-business-led scheme, designed as a learning journey with all employers starting at Level 1 and progressing through the scheme at their own pace. We are promoting and improving awareness of the scheme by encouraging employers to join through a variety of mediums, such as: Jobcentre Plus employer engagement, social media channels including LinkedIn and Twitter, through the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group (BLG) and Professional Advisers Group and Gov.UK as well as other regular communications campaigns. The BLG, comprising senior leaders from significant British businesses across all sectors, is helping to increase engagement with employers. The group promotes the business benefits of disability employment and works with DWP officials, and MPs to identify any changes or developments that will improve the effectiveness of the scheme.
We continue to work with stakeholders to develop and grow the scheme and ensure it remains credible, sufficiently challenging, and continues to support the employment of disabled people. In the future, we expect to publish refreshed guidance, tools, and products which will provide employers with a better understanding of what being a disability confident employer means. By improving their knowledge and skills of disability in the workplace, they will be in the best possible position to offer more employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions.
In the 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business (HiEB) consultation, both employers and employees reported a lack of awareness around existing rights and responsibilities regarding health and disability in the workplace. Employers also reported that they consider government to be the most reliable source of information, but that the existing offer was fragmented, hard to navigate, and difficult to apply in practice.
Employers often have fears about saying or doing the wrong thing to disabled people in the workplace. Disability Confident aims to challenge the perceptions of what it means to employ a disabled person, and encourages employers to think differently about disability, and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace. By joining the Disability Confident scheme, employers can play a crucial role in championing diversity and inclusion within their company culture, and creating more disability inclusive workplaces. The scheme is designed as a learning journey with all employers starting at Level 1 and progressing through the scheme at their own pace. Accreditation for each level lasts for three years. No employer is too small or new to start the journey, and even the most experienced employers will find new techniques and best practice that can help them.
Support with the Employee Health and Disability service
DWP is developing a digital service for employers called Support with Employee Health and Disability, offering tailored guidance on health and disability. This is currently available nationally, in live testing. Developed with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the service enables businesses to ‘self-serve’ by equipping them to handle common workplace situations, and feel more confident having conversations about health and disability, including their legal obligations.
The Support with Employee Health and Disability service is accessible on Gov.UK. Employers can link to the service from both the ACAS and HSE websites and we have worked with a range of business organisations and networks to promote the resource to employers. The Support with Employee Health and Disability service complements Disability Confident by offering employers step by step guidance to support employees with a disability or health conditions to stay in work or return to work. Users of the service are also signposted to other government support schemes including Access to Work and Health Adjustment passports. This includes guidance on how to have conversations about health in the workplace, making adjustments and signposting to further resources and support.
Disability Employment Advisers
DEAs and DEALs use their understanding of DWP strategic priorities to link Jobcentres with employers in the local community. DEAs have been supporting employers through recruitment events and work collaboratively with Jobcentre colleagues to promote Disability Confident scheme to employers.