Written evidence submitted with Papworth Trust (ESD0085)

 

About Papworth Trust 

  1. Papworth Trust is a disability charity and registered social housing provider, whose aim is for disabled people to have equality, choice and independence. Papworth Trust helps thousands of people every year through a wide range of services including housing, work and care. 

 

  1. Since our inception in 1917, Papworth Trust has a rich history of delivering employment support services to disabled people. The Trust is currently sub-contracted to deliver the Work and Health Programme and Pioneer in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; the WorkWell Programme in Peterborough in Partnership with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System (ICS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); and we also run our own bespoke employment programme known as Routeways to Work, which combines work experience at our commercial bicycle shop and workshop, with employment support and guidance.

 

  1. The Trust has been delivering various types of employment support to disabled people since its inception in 1917, but we are now genuinely concerned about the sustainability of, and loss of valuable skills from the sector as contract announcements continue to be delayed, then awarded to larger primes, whilst smaller specialist provision is squeezed out of the market.

 

  1. In addition to our employment support services, Papworth Trust is committed to supporting disabled people and championing Disability Confident initiatives. As a Disability Confident Leader, we are incredibly proud to prioritise Disability Confident support in all that we do. This recognition extends beyond our internal efforts to the wider community. Through our fundraising efforts, we have a full time position that is dedicated to supporting external providers to achieve Disability Confident status, offering free lunch and learn training sessions, online resources and free validator support to achieve their leadership status.

 

  1. Papworth Trust welcomes the opportunity to submit its views to the Work and Pensions Select Committee and would be willing to provide oral evidence if requested.

Why has progress with closing the disability employment gap slowed in recent years?

  1. The total estimated number of job vacancies were down by 119,000 (14.0%) in June to August 2025 from the level of a year ago, and are 67,000 (8.4%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) January to March 2020 level[1]. Employers are therefore facing very high numbers of applicants for each vacancy, making the job market extremely competitive. In this context, employers are looking for candidates with a wider range of skills and flexibility, a “multi-skilled” approach that can disadvantage disabled applicants if they are not supported to showcase their strengths.

 

  1. Despite much progress over the years, misconceptions about employing disabled people still persist; the most common being that it costs more to employ a disabled person. As a result, many employers prioritise candidates who they believe will require minimal adjustments or support in the workplace. Through our Disability Confident work and employment support service, we work hard with employers to dispel these common myths however for many other employers they may still lean towards applicants they see as less resource-intensive. We believe this combination of high applicant volumes, rising expectations for adaptability, and concerns about cost has contributed to the slower pace of progress in narrowing the gap.

What barriers prevent disabled people who want to work, or to work more, from doing so? How do these vary for different disabilities? How do these vary across the country?

  1. Through our employment support services and our work on Disability Confident, Papworth Trust sees many barriers still exist that prevent disabled people from working or working more. Fearful employers and an inaccessible recruitment process still need improvement. Disability awareness is increasing, but this isn't always filtering down to recruiting managers. We see good practices of flexible recruitment processes which does have a positive impact. For example, Neurobox allows you to submit a video rather than a CV; the John Lewis group now publishes their interview questions in advance; these simple measures all support a candidate to showcase the best version of themselves. However, they are the exception rather than the default position for employers.

 

  1. As noted in the question above, employers fear is still real and acts as a barrier. 'Reasonable adjustments' can be difficult for employers to interpret and there are examples reported in press (e.g. Mrs R Davies v Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, April 2024) where the judge has felt the employer hadn't done enough in terms of reasonable adjustments. This adds to employer fear where the nature of the job might mean that reasonable adjustments are more difficult.

 

  1. Skills training can be another aggravating factor, where the provision for skills is for entry level jobs (e.g. administrative roles, CSCS cards). Retraining and upskilling isn’t readily available for people who are further along in their careers. We believe there needs to be a Joint Needs Strategic Assessment which identifies where the gaps are with employers and the skills required, to better understand what is preventing people from re-entering the labour market.

 

  1. Finally, and despite the progress made with Universal Credit, benefits can still be an issue and there still seems to be a cliff edge as people move closer towards working 16/20 hours per week. With the increased talk of welfare reform, it does make people nervous about taking a step into employment because of the fear that I will be worse off if it doesn't work out. Through our employment services, we find we need to be doing Better Off Calculations early on in the support conversation, as it enables people to think about their goals and aspirations when they understand the impact it will have on them.

 

What kinds of support are most effective at supporting people with different disabilities (such as physical, mental or fluctuating conditions) to enter and stay in work?

  1. The most effective support is one that is person-centred and tailored to that individual. We know disabilities and health conditions affect people in different ways, and therefore it is about understanding the individual and tailoring the support to their needs and aspirations.
  2. From an employment support perspective, it is about following what the participant needs rather than following a linear process (e.g. CVs, Cover letters model). The world of employment support is changing; it previously felt much more like a tick box exercise to meet certain milestones, whereas having programmes that are flexible in our approach enables an Employment Adviser to be creative in their thinking whilst also recognising that not everyone travels through a programme at the same rate. Employment support has moved quite far from the old face to face model, we now incorporate text messaging, video calling etc; it’s more about developing the Employment Advisers to adapt to these new / varied ways of support and having a menu of options.

 

  1. Individuals need to feel they are in control of their journey - what do I want to do? How many hours is achievable? What will it be like? Will I even be better off? How will I tell my employer about my health condition? Culture is key and we must create a safe space for them to talk about the types of support they might need; this not only applies to line managers but the wider teams around them.

 

  1. Papworth Trust believes the Government should incentivise work trials / work placements and must minimise the amount of bureaucracy in claiming the funding for this. A good example of this is the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Authority's internship scheme which is 100% funded through UK Shared Prosperity fund (UKSPF), for employers seeking to expand their teams with talented interns. These internships require a commitment of between 12 and 38 hours per week over a duration of 6 weeks, with compensation at least meeting the national living wage to those of 21 years or above, or if under 21, national minimum wage applies. Whilst there is no requirement for placements to lead to sustainable roles after 6 weeks, it ensures that there are no future commitments on the employer's part and for interns they gain valuable skills and experience that can be a stepping stone to a future career. We believe schemes like this could go a step further and extend the age limit where a person has a disability or long-term health condition.

 

 

How effective is the support provided by Disability Employment Advisers? Are they able to support across all disabilities?

  1. We believe this depends on the Disability Employment Adviser and the local area. In Papworth Trust's experience, we find the support tends to be better in smaller Jobcentre Plus's; at larger ones, we find the Disability Employment Adviser tends to change more regularly and therefore lacks consistency for customer and employer support.

What can the Government learn from the Work and Health Programme?

  1. As a Work and Health Programme subcontractor, Papworth Trust feels that it was a good programme pre-covid; however post-covid there was too much bureaucracy and compliance added. By this we mean, at the beginning of every appointment we'd spend the first 15 minutes going through the compliance checks. A participant would need to have a face-to-face appointment every fortnight and create a SMART action plan every 28 days; it erased the flexibility of the programme and the ability for an employment adviser to think creatively for their participants.

 

  1. Whilst the Work and Health Programme was intended to be a voluntary programme, there were incidents of it being used by Jobcentre Plus advisers as either a choice between the Work and Health programme or Restart; this inevitably made it feel more of a mandation. In our experience, our better outcomes came from those participants who genuinely wanted to work, rather than the participants who felt they had to be there. In addition, people who disengaged with the Work and Health Programme, were unable to access any other employment support until the programme's lifespan (15 months) had ended. If a progamme is truly voluntary, we feel participants should have been allowed to make the choice on whether they were referred to the programme without fear of reprisal.

 

How successful has Access to Work been at supporting disabled people into work? How could it be improved?

  1. Papworth Trust believes Access to Work is a vital service – when the scheme works, it works really well and is of real benefit to disabled people. In our experience it has been found to be a great support mechanism and covers a lot of different needs. Awareness of the scheme can still be low amongst employers, and through our work we try to promote it as much as possible.

 

  1. The Trust believes it is important to make sure that the scheme is working as well as possible and there is great room for improvement regarding turnaround times. Our experience of current waiting times for claims to be processed are around 3-6 months, which we feel is far too long and in extreme cases can lead to loss of job offers. Additionally, the claims process can be burdensome for employers and the scheme administrators still feel reluctant to talk to us (as employers) on the next steps. This feels counterintuitive as we should all be working together to reach the best outcome for the individual to support them to and in work. One example of it being counterintuitive is that a claim is started online, but you then have to post it as a wet signature is required. You also can't speak to anyone within the Access to Work team as communication is all done via the online portal.

 

  1. Whilst it's welcome that a person can apply for Access to Work before they start a job provided they give evidence of this; it can then take 6 months from application before the support kicks in. Therefore, the support doesn't arrive in time for when it is needed. We find there are many employers who end up bypassing Access to Work and buying the support directly themselves, which is great if they have the budget to do so, but ends up alienating smaller employers who want to do the right thing but can't afford to.

How successful has the Disability Confident scheme been at improving employer practices? How could it be improved?

  1. In 2019, Papworth Trust achieved the Disability Confident Leader status (Level 3), using its platform to collaborate with other organisations and advocate for the commercial and social benefits of employing disabled people. Building on this commitment, Papworth Trust became a Level 3 accredited validator for the Government’s Disability Confident scheme in September 2022. Our Board of Trustees made the strategic decision to use fundraised monies to employ a Disability Confident Adviser who can support employers to become Disability Confident.

 

  1. We set targets of supporting local employers and since April 2024, we have supported almost 100 businesses across Cambridgeshire and beyond to sign up to the Disability Confident scheme. The service we provide is free and as part of our commitment to Disability Confident, we’ve been supporting others at the start of their journey with information, advice and guidance and online webinars which help to build an understanding of reasonable adjustments you can put in place and bust the myths on employing disabled people.

 

  1. In our experience, improvements to the scheme are three-fold. Firstly, to raise awareness of the scheme. Many employers have never heard of the scheme - they are not averse to it, they have just never heard of it and any suspicions they have lead to fear. We find that once we have employers round the table, they are open to discussion and it's the larger employers who seek our support, we find it harder to reach smaller employers.

 

  1. Secondly, the scheme has no financial support attributed to it. Papworth Trust is committed and passionate about the scheme; we fund a Disability Confident Adviser role because we feel it's the right thing to do. However, the Government doesn't financially back the scheme nor support organisations to become Disability Confident. We feel this is an area for improvement that will make a real difference to employers and disabled jobseekers.

 

  1. Finally, Disability Confident validators, like the Trust, do not receive notifications of upcoming expiries. Instead, these are sent to local Jobcentre Plus centres, but they find it difficult to chase employers. The suggested solution is two-fold. Moving forwards, we suggest that the Department notifies Disability Confident validators like Papworth Trust of upcoming expires so that we can provide support in a timely manner or publicise the date of expiry on the gov.uk site so that validators can access the information.

How well is Connect to Work working? Does it work better in some circumstances, or for some disabilities, than others?

  1. Connect to Work has been a postcode lottery in terms of delivery so far - in some areas of the country we understand contracts are up and running and delivery has started; our experience in the East of England has been that tenders have been slow and in some locations, such as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, we are still waiting for the opportunity to bid.

 

  1. For those local areas where contracts have been awarded, we are finding that large providers are monopolising the contracts themselves rather than utilsing specialist, local knowledge through a subcontracting model. Large providers have managed to get to win contracts in areas where they have no footprint, excluding smaller charities and organisations who know the communities, customers and local organisations. We have deep concerns for this approach, which will see years of experience and specialist knowledge wiped from the employment support sector. Furthermore, we fear the programme could be shaped towards a compliance model rather than where the focus should be, which is improving employment outcomes for disabled people.

 

What should the Government prioritise with its additional employment support for disabled people arising from the Pathways to Work Green Paper? What should be the focus of the 1,000 Pathway to Work advisors?

  1. Papworth Trust believes the focus should be around person-centred employment support. The Pathways to Work advisers are going to be the first person a jobseeker speaks to about employment support. The support conversation needs to be more than a one-off conversation; it needs to be person-centred and feel less of a tick-box machine. We know through our conversations with disabled jobseekers that questions arise, information needs to be provided in different formats and also it may take several times for disabled people to digest the information and its purpose. We feel the conversation should be tailored to the individual, and first off, ask what it is they want for themselves in terms of employment, what are their barriers/hopes/fears. Discussions around benefits and how they will be affected if they start employment is also a big topic to consider; a person needs to understand the financial side explained and a Better off Calculation completed with a variety of hours worked to give different scenarios.

 

  1. We feel the support conversation should be offered to everyone, but concentrated on those who wish to work but are struggling to find the right pathway. In our experience, those who don’t want to work and are comfortable with their situation probably won't engage well and a different engagement strategy would be needed.

October 2025

[1] Office for National Statistics