Department for Education (DfE) – Written evidence (YDP0062)
House of Lords Public Services Committee
Call for evidence on the transition from education to employment for young disabled people
Introduction
1. The Public Services Committee launched its inquiry into the transition from education to employment for young disabled people in August 2023. This document sets out the Department for Education’s (DfE) response to the inquiry’s call for written evidence.
2. The DfE welcomes the inquiry and shares its views on the importance of transitions from education to employment for young disabled people. DfE is responsible for children’s services and education, including early years, schools, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England. Therefore, we will be responding to questions the inquiry poses that relate to these areas[1].
3. As we support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the majority of our responses use this phrasing rather than focusing solely on young disabled people.
Our vision
4. The government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people, including those with SEND, have access to a world-class education system that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.
5. On 2 March 2023, we published the SEND and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to our SEND and AP Green Paper, which set out our plans to improve experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need AP.
6. In the Plan, we set out that we will establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment. We will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting. For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) and specialist provision, we will ensure they get access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this. We will strengthen accountability across the system so that everyone is held to account for supporting children and young people with SEND.
7. We are taking action now to support and stabilise the system and address the immediate challenges that exist. We will also test and refine our reforms through our £70m Change Programme to make sure they deliver both the system and culture changes needed to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND or in AP and their families.
8. Preparation for adulthood is a key theme within our Plan. Although each child and young person’s journey will be different, preparation for adulthood should be built in from the earliest stages and should continue through their education, centred around the aspirations, interests, and needs of the child or young person. As set out in the SEND Code of Practice (2015), provision should support children and young people to develop independence, contribute to their community, develop positive friendships, be as healthy as possible, and, for the majority of young people, prepare them for higher education and/or employment.
9. As set out within the Plan, we will:
10. In addition to this, our skills reforms will provide a ladder of opportunity to help young people access excellent education and skills training and continue learning through adulthood, to secure good jobs and progress in their careers, through the wide variety of routes available. This includes Apprenticeships, T Levels and Supported Internships.
11. Apprenticeships are a core part of the government’s skills agenda, providing high-quality, hands-on training to help people to start and progress in work and help employers to fill their vacancies and train their workforces to address industry skills gaps.
12. T Levels offer students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience through an industry placement of at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days). These provide young people with the knowledge and experience needed to open the door into skilled employment, further study, or a higher apprenticeship.
13. Supported Internships are a structured, work-based study programme for 16 to 24-year-olds with SEND, who have an EHCP. The core aim of a supported internship study programme is a substantial work placement, facilitated by the support of an expert job coach. Supported interns are enrolled and supported by a learning provider, for example, a school or college, but spend most of their learning time, around 70%, in a workplace.
14. Colleges receive additional funding (over and above their core funding) for students with additional needs, including those with special educational needs (SEN), through Disadvantage Funding. Like mainstream schools, colleges are expected to provide appropriate, high quality SEND support using all available resources. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) also allocates high needs funding to colleges and local authorities for students whose additional support costs more than £6,000. Colleges and local authorities should use their funding allocations to work together with young people with SEND to agree study programmes and support packages which are personalised to the student's individual aims, enabling the achievement of positive outcomes.
15. We are further supporting young people in Further Education (FE) through the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund, which targets support at young people who most need help with the costs of staying on in post-16 education and training. Students in defined vulnerable groups, including disabled young people may receive yearly bursaries of up to £1,200 a year (pro-rata for part-timers). Over £143.7 million was allocated in 2022/23 academic year to institutions for Discretionary Bursaries to help disadvantaged 16-19-year olds with costs such as travel. Plus, a further £31.7 million was allocated for free FE meals.
16. Within apprenticeships, learning support funding is available to be used by apprenticeship providers to make reasonable adjustments to support an apprentice who has learning difficulties or disabilities so that they are able to complete their apprenticeship. This could include reasonable adjustments to complete English and maths requirements and the end-point assessment. Learning support is a fixed amount of £150 per month which can be accessed by the provider. If the cost of reasonable adjustments exceeds £150 per month, excess learning support (up to £19,000 per year) and exceptional learning support (over £19,000 per year) may be available.
17. The next section includes our responses to questions the committee posed that are relevant for DfE.
Committee questions
Question 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?
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?
Question 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?
18. We have grouped our responses to these questions together as they cover similar themes. Other government departments may also provide evidence.
19. In the feedback we received on the SEND and AP Green Paper consultation last year, we heard that late planning and decision-making for a child or young person’s next stage and poor support around transitions were important issues for young people, particularly in relation to post-16 provision. Many felt that support is not in place at the point of transition as information about students’ needs is not shared between settings and services easily or early enough. Poor transitions and a lack of destination planning may impact the young person’s next step into employment. We also heard that young people do not know enough about the support that is available in the workplace. We have been exploring these issues further with young people with SEND over the last year, via young people's participation groups that DfE fund, including FLARE and KIDS, and other groups.
20. The impact of these barriers may partly be reflected in data published in the Annual Population Survey, which shows that that the disability employment gap is visible at age 16 to 19 and generally widens, in absolute terms, with age (ONS, 2021). This data demonstrates that employment rates also vary considerably by type of disability. Analysis of Longitudinal Educational Outcomes data looking at young people who were in Year 11 in 2002/03 or 2003/04 showed pupils with SEN were 25% less likely to be in sustained employment aged 27 when compared to their peers who were not identified with SEN (DfE, 2018).
21. In the SENDAP Improvement Plan we committed to a regular meeting between the Minister for Children, Families and Well-being, and the Minister for Disabled People and the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression to drive forward joint working to underpin successful and supported transitions into employment. The first of these meetings took place in July.
22. We know that successful transitions must be well-planned. Sharing information about people’s needs early can help to ensure support is put in place from their first day in a new setting or in the workplace. Visits to the new setting or workplace can help people familiarise themselves with the environment and meet people they will be working with, and the opportunity to practise travelling to the new setting or workplace can also help support an effective transition. Having regular check-ins between new starters and managers provides an opportunity to review progress, and work together to develop their relationship and ensure the person’s needs are being met, making adjustments as necessary. Information on how careers planning can support effective transitions is provided in our response to question 3 below.
23. To address issues around poor transitions, we are developing good practice guidance in line with the best practice principles above to support consistent, timely, high-quality transitions for children and young people with SEND and in alternative provision. This will ultimately look at transitions between all stages of education and will focus initially on transitions into and out of post-16 settings. This includes transitions into employment and adult services, and for young people leaving alternative provision at the end of key stage 4, building on learning from the recent Alternative Provision Transition Fund.
24. DfE and DWP officials are working closely together to understand the journeys of young people with SEND as they transition from education into employment, in order to identify the synergies between our programmes and make sure the pathways into employment are clear and accessible. This includes supporting the review that Sir Robert Buckland MP is conducting into autism and employment, which is considering issues including how employers can better support autistic staff already in their workforce, what more could be done to prepare autistic people for beginning or returning to a career, including young people, and working practices or initiatives to reduce stigma.
25. We are also working with DWP to smooth young people’s transition into employment through the pilot of an Adjustments Passport. The Passport aims to raise awareness of in-work support and empower young people to have more structured conversations with employers about their support needs. We have supported the Passport pilots in three Higher Education Providers and evaluation reports show strong agreement from the more than 200 students that took part that the Passport will help them get adjustments in the workplace. We are now supporting DWP to trial the Passport with young people pursuing a Supported Internship or Apprenticeship and will consider whether it could be trialled in different settings.
26. In terms of barriers to health and care services impacting on access to the workplace, we recognise that transitioning between child and adult services, including into adult social care, can be challenging. We hear from the education sector that young people sometimes remain at college for longer than is needed because there is no available adult social care provision to support them in their next stage. We are working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England to identify how we can improve these transitions, with the aim to include this in the transitions guidance mentioned above. We are working with DHSC to update the statutory guidance for local authorities and NHS organisations to support implementation of the Autism Strategy, which includes a chapter on transitions.
27. Some young people may benefit from a work based study programme such as a supported internship, T Levels or from doing an apprenticeship, to support their transition into employment. Further information is set out below.
Apprenticeships
28. In recent years, there has been an improved representation of learners who have declared a Learning Difficulty or Disability (LDD) starting apprenticeships. In the 2021/22 academic year, 14% of starts were by people declaring an LDD, up from 12.4% in 2020/21. We are working to ensure this growth continues and that a learning difficulty or disability is not a barrier to young people who want to realise the benefits of an apprenticeship.
29. English and maths are key elements of apprenticeships. Good numeracy and literacy are highly valuable for apprentices and the employer as they equip learners to progress and succeed. However, , we are aware that for some people with LDD, achieving the required qualifications may not be possible and might prevent them from undertaking or achieving an apprenticeship. While providers must make every effort to enable apprentices with SEN or LDD to achieve the minimum English and maths requirements of the specific apprenticeship, as part of our work to remove barriers to starting an apprenticeship, we have introduced flexibilities to English and maths requirements to support people who declare an LDD to undertake apprenticeships. This includes lowering the English and maths requirements to Entry Level 3 for a defined group of individuals who hold an EHCP or equivalent.
30. We have also launched a pilot to consider what additional forms of evidence could be used to determine apprentice eligibility for existing flexibilities to standard English and maths requirements, for those apprentices who have LDD but do not have an EHCP. This pilot was launched in May 2023 and will run for one year. Early findings are expected in Spring 2024 and the evaluation findings will be considered when setting the 2024/25 apprenticeship funding rules.
31. In partnership with Disability Rights UK, we support the Disabled Apprentice Network which provides a space for apprentices who have a variety of disabilities and learning difficulties to discuss their experiences and support each other as they progress through their apprenticeship journey. Disability Rights UK published annual reports on the findings of the Network in 2022 and 2023. This year’s report considers what works well for disabled apprentices and will help government, employers and training providers to improve how apprenticeships are delivered.
32. One further type of support which can support apprentices with LDD to manage their training and complete their apprenticeship is the use of mentoring. We are developing a mentoring pilot where a group of trailblazing providers will commit to expanding a mentoring offer to all apprentices with LDD, enabled through a bespoke training and support offer, to be launched later this year. The pilot will help us to identify the training and support needs of the mentors who are delivering the mentoring alongside the demands and impact of mentoring on apprentices with LDD.
T Levels
33. We want T Levels to be available to a broad range of learners, including young people with SEND. Providers must ensure that the individual needs of young people with SEND are identified, and the right level of support is provided so that they have fair access to industry placements, which is a mandatory component of T Levels. To support the sourcing of placements, providers should use available core funding, alongside other available funding where appropriate (for example, High Needs or Disadvantage Funding) to provide additional support in the workplace and assist with reasonable workplace adjustments. This could include the services of an independent workplace mentor or, where students have more complex needs, a job coach.
34. We have implemented different delivery approaches to ensure that students can access high-quality and meaningful placements across the country, and across all industries. These approaches have been introduced to provide more flexibility; take into consideration the needs of all students (including all students with SEND, and not just those with an EHCP); and widen the pool of employers that can offer placements across all industries.
Supported Internships
35. Supported Internships have proven success in supporting young people with EHCPs into employment, with high quality providers reporting success rates of 60-70%[2]. In 2019, we commissioned CooperGibson Research to conduct qualitative research with providers and stakeholders exploring the different models of supported internship delivery as well as the factors perceived to be associated with, and barriers to, delivering successful supported internships. They identified that models of delivery that are closely aligned to our guidance are more likely to have more success in supporting young people to transition into employment.
36. This research informed our recent £18 million investment to build capacity in and level up quality of the Supported Internships programme, which is aiming to double the number of supported internships from c.2,500 to c.5,000 per year by March 2025 to support more young people with EHCPs into employment. The Internships Work consortium has been appointed as the delivery partner for this investment. As part of this work, up to £10.8 million in grant funding will be available to all local authorities, alongside support and training, including training to engage employers. This will enable all local authorities to access a supported employment forum and strengthen the quality of their Supported Internship offers to improve the transition into sustained, paid employment for interns.
37. We heard from stakeholders that young people without EHCPs would benefit from doing a supported internship. Therefore, in the Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced a pilot to test extending Supported Internships to young people with SEND but without EHCPs. We have invited a small number of local authorities, from a mix of urban and rural areas, to bid for funding to take part in the pilot. We expect delivery to commence from autumn 2023 and funding will be available to March 2025.
Question 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?
38. As set out in our introduction, we have framed our responses in relation to all children and young people with SEND rather than only those with EHCPs or only those who are disabled. This is in line with the ambitions and vision set out in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan: to ensure that all children and young people’s additional needs are met effectively and quickly within affordable provision, reducing the need for an EHCP and, where an EHCP is needed, to ensure that parents do not endure lengthy, adversarial and costly processes.
Question 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?
39. Schools and colleges have a crucial role to play in helping children and young people with SEND and their families to understand the full range of relevant education, training and employment opportunities available to them, such as apprenticeships, supported internships or routes into higher education. This will enable them to consider the widest range of careers.
40. The government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, which is based on good international standards, focuses on addressing the individual needs of each pupil. Careers leaders should work closely with the relevant teachers and professionals in their school or college, including any Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and inclusion teams, and the careers adviser, to identify the guidance needs of all pupils with SEND and put in place personalised support and a transition plan. This may include helping students with SEND and their families to understand the full range of relevant education, training and employment opportunities and should be well informed about ways in which adults with SEN or disabilities can be supported in the workplace (e.g. disability rights, supported employment, ways in which jobs can be “carved” to fit a person’s abilities, job coaching, reasonable adjustments for disabled people in the workplace and Access to Work (DWP support)). Advice on self-employment (e.g. micro-enterprise) can also be especially relevant for some students with SEND.
41. We fund the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to develop their careers programmes, including though support focussed on working with children and young people with SEND. A national network of Careers Hubs provides the means to collaborate and share good practice. All Career Hubs are now part of an Inclusion Community of Improvement developing resources with practice centred around SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units. This means all schools and colleges nationally have a central resource directory available via the CEC website to support them with examples of good practice, careers education resources and training. They also have further peer support via the Careers Hub in their local area to ensure they deliver the best quality careers programme for their young people.
42. CEC works with Careers Leaders to ensure that careers provision is tailored to the individual needs of the pupil (Gatsby Benchmark 3). In 2021/22, 97% of schools reported that their careers programmes actively seek to raise the aspirations of all students. Through the CEC, we have funded SEND specific training for local Enterprise Coordinators and Enterprise Advisers (business volunteers) who support schools through the Careers Hub network. The CEC undertake targeted work with employers to encourage more employer engagement to support young people with SEND. The CEC’s My Skills My Future programme supports Careers Leaders in schools and colleges to help prepare young people with SEND for their next step. The CEC’s SEND Outreach Campaign resulted in a pack of SEND specific resources, including the SEND Gatsby Toolkit, being sent to every special school in England outlining its services.
43. These resources support those in schools and colleges to understand who the wide range of groups of young people with SEND are and why it is important to support them to overcome barriers and achieve parity. The resources provide practical help for schools and professionals supporting them to achieve the Gatsby Benchmarks when working with young people with SEND in whatever settings and help these young people achieve their optimum career outcome and transition to their best next step. Local Careers Hubs support schools and colleges to make links with employers in their area to provide experiences of the workplace and employer encounters for their young people. 78% of Alternative Provision and 76% of SEND settings (special schools and special post-16 institutions) were in a Careers Hub in January 2023.
44. Young people aged 19-24 with SEND in need of transition support are a National Careers Service priority group. National Careers Service community-based contractors work with DWP work coaches, Local Enterprise Partnerships, employers, colleges and third sector organisations to reach customers who are furthest from the labour market.
45. In 2023-24, we are investing a further £600,000 to deliver targeted interventions for disadvantaged students and ensure support to help them secure a positive post-16 destination.
b) 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?
46. We have outlined in the careers statutory guidance that the school governing body should provide clear advice and support for the Careers Leader who is responsible for developing a strategic careers plan.
47. An important part of their role is to work closely with their SENCO and Careers Adviser to ensure that tailored careers plans are in place to support each pupil to understand their careers choices, raise their aspirations, meet their potential, and support their transitions.
48. The CEC provides careers support to those from wider disadvantaged backgrounds through a Community of Improvement (CoI) focused on inclusion. The CoI works with Careers Hubs and SEND specific Enterprise coordinators to enable them to better support schools, colleges and training providers through sharing good practice and developing resources. Careers Hubs have the flexibility to address the specific needs of individuals where it is identified.
49. More broadly, the National Careers Service supports adults 19 years and over (or aged 18 for those who are not in education, employment or training) through the local community-based service, telephone support and the website. Adults with special educational needs and/or disabilities are one of the priority groups for the local community-based service. They work closely with work coaches at a local level, encouraging work coaches to refer customers in need of careers advice and guidance to the Service.
c) 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?
50. The ‘Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools’ initiative involves local Jobcentre Plus advisors working with schools to provide pupils in years 7-13 with insight into the world of work and advice on options like traineeships and apprenticeships. This scheme is designed to help young people to think about their future career ambitions and make plans to realise them. As well as offering advice on the labour market, the advisers will help schools to offer high quality work experience opportunities so that young people can gain direct insights into what potential employers are looking for.
51. As mentioned previously, we are supporting DWP’s pilot of an Adjustments Passport with young people pursuing a Supported Internship or Apprenticeship. Using the passport will encourage young people and their education providers to have conversations about the employment support services and schemes that may be available to them.
52. Young people who have an EHCP and are on specific study programmes, such as supported internships, traineeships or are completing apprenticeships, are eligible for DWP’s Access to Work grant scheme, and may be supported by staff in their education settings to apply for this.
Question 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?
53. To ensure our work based study programmes are effective, we provide specific activities to support employers. These are set out below.
Apprenticeships
54. We are working with some of the country's most influential employers through the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network to understand how to better reach out to people from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities.
55. We also improved our Find an Apprenticeship service to allow people to identify Disability Confident Employers offering opportunities and our Disabled Apprentice Network, launched in partnership with Disability Rights UK, is providing valuable insight and evidence on how to attract and retain disabled people into apprenticeships.
56. In addition, we continue to pay employers and providers £1,000 when they take on apprentices under 25 years old with an EHCP and we provider funding of £150 per month for additional learning support to support providers to make reasonable adjustments. This can be increased to up to £19,000 per year in exceptional circumstances.
T Levels
57. We are providing an extensive programme of focused support to help ensure employers and providers can deliver high-quality industry placements for all students including those with SEND. This includes comprehensive packages of support for both employers and providers, which offer guidance, workshops and webinars to build their confidence, capability and capacity to deliver high-quality industry placements. We have also launched a one-year employer support fund throughout the financial year 2023 to 2024, with up to £12 million available to support employers with legitimate costs incurred when hosting placements.
Supported Internships
58. Through our £18 million investment in supported internships, over 700 job coaches will be trained by 2025 to ensure interns receive high-quality support on their work placements and over 800 employer champions will be trained to engage businesses to host interns. We are aiming to raise awareness of supported internships as an effective pathway into employment with young people and their families, employers and the wider sector, on a national level through communications activity and on a local level through supported employment forums.
a) What steps could be taken to improve awareness and uptake of relevant government support schemes?
59. Since January 2022 the DfE have delivered a successful audience led campaign, targeting SME employers through paid for media channels about the training and employment schemes available to them. DfE are currently delivering our fifth burst of activity which includes paid social, search, broadcast and dynamic audio.
60. Recognising how synergies between all audience skills campaigns could increase awareness further, a new Skills for Life campaign launches in January 2024 aiming to increase awareness of technical education qualifications and skills offers for all audiences. This campaign will have an over-arching strand to create an emotional connection with employers, young people and adults, positioning skills as the starting place to realise potential and encouraging people to take the first steps towards taking up the qualifications and offers available.
b) What actions could employers be taking without Government support? What barriers prevent them doing so?
61. One critical barrier is that many employers, especially SME decision makers, are time poor. Without the Skills for Life Campaign targeting employers, we would be limited to using stakeholder and our ‘owned’ channels such as organic social media. This would rely on people actively seeking out information rather than it being served to them in places they frequently visit, greatly limiting the level of impact possible.
62. DfE continues to work with the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network of over 90 employers to explore the barriers that disabled apprentices face in accessing and achieving apprenticeships. Through DfE, the Network shares best practice and advice to encourage employers to work in partnership with their training provider to access and deliver support to apprentices with a learning disability or difficulty.
22 September 2023
[1] We have not responded to questions 6 and 8 from the committee’s full list as these themes are not within DfE’s remit.
[2] PDF - 2022 - Data Presentation 2020-21 Academic Year (dfnprojectsearch.org)