Adrian Ashton – Written evidence (YDP0066)

The transition from education to employment for young disabled people

https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3167

-          I am a parent to 3 children (aged 17, 20 and 20) all of whom are diagnosed with disabilities relating to neurodiversity

-          In my working life as an award-winning business consultant (including with recognition for championing EDI issues), I also support employers with disability issues, and disabled entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses

General

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?

Disability is a broad term, but there is a wide variance of needs and considerations for people with such a diagnosis – for example, the barriers faced by a disability linked to neurodivergence (cognitive processing and understanding) are different to that linked to physical conditions (ability to access buildings and use equipment).

In addition, employers often feel ‘scared of doing the wrong thing’ owing to a lack of understanding about disabilities, and so elect not to do anything – thus reducing the potential opportunities for young people with a disability as they begin to seek employment.

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?

See above comment to “1)”.

Scope of the inquiry

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?

Whilst EHCPs offer a focussed way to identify young people with disabilities in need of support, a young person may have multiple or profound disabilities but not have been awarded one[1]. My personal experience of having disabled children who do not all have an EHCP, is that they do not assure that a young person is able to access any more or needed support than if they did. In addition, our experience with one of our children is that is that it took us 5 years to be able to get them recognition of their need for support owing to a disability, owing to our having been lied to by multiple statutory bodies, and subsequently acknowledged systemic failings in process such as TAF and CAF (to the extent that we have been encouraged by the Quality Care Commission to begin civil proceedings) – as such, they have not been engaged in any educational activity since the age of 14 and so would be otherwise nearly impossible to identify when they entered their transition period into employment (but have no support to be able to do so, owing to having been excluded from educational support).

Alternate approaches could consider engaging the network of Parent Forums (peer communities of families who have disabled children), or specialist SEN schools and academies.

Support for young disabled people

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?

My personal experience is that none of my children, who were enrolled in several different schools across different local authorities, received any careers advice, guidance, or support – nor were they offered it.

4)    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?

My personal experience of my children who have and are transitioning from education into employment is that none of them have been alerted to the existence of the Access to Work programme by any advisor, or at any stage in their applications, awards, and reviews of Universal Credit and Capability for Work reviews linked to the same.

a)    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?

Ideally, a young person’s first contact with employment support schemes should be while they are still in education, to help them better understand, plan for, and manage the transition with their parents and carers. As such, they such be core to the offer of careers guidance and advice offered to all pupils.

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?

I am unable to offer a response as none of my children have been offered any employment-related support in relation to their diagnosed and statemented disabilities.

Support for employers

6)    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?

In my experience of supporting employers in this theme, nearly all are unaware of the Access to Work programme, and how it can be used to not only introduce physical adaptations to work stations in the case of physical disability, but also for training and coaching support for other existing non-disabled employees to help them better understand and work with a new employee who has a neurodivergent disability.

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

Linking with HMRC payroll services to generate automated alerts to employers when they enrol a new employee.

Showcase campaigns in collaboration with existing business infrastructure networks, such as Chambers of Commerce.

b)   What actions could employers be taking without Government support? What barriers prevent them doing so?

Various employers already offer support to employees with disabilities without recourse to any government support – one such example is the Daily Bread Co-operative, who employ up to 50% of their workforce as adults with neurodivergent disabilities, without receiving any wage subsidy or other subsidies or funded training etc[2].

Many rural community businesses are also offering a similar unsupported approach to supporting young people with disabilities access employment – a recent national programme by the Plunkett Foundation has captured examples of this[3].

Showcasing examples such as these could help challenge other employers’ limited beliefs and mindsets as to what businesses can do, and remain profitable.

Enforcement of the rights of disabled people in the workplace

a)    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?

b)   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?

I am unable to respond to these questions owing to having insufficient experience through my own children, or professional work to date.

16 August 2023