The same as you? National Implementation Group Report of the short-life working group on Employment

(1)

The same as you?

National Implementation Group

Report of the short-life

working group on Employment

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE 9 780755 909995

ISBN 0-7559-0999-2

Astron B32678 11/03

(2)

Working for a change?

The same as you?

Report of the short-life

working group on Employment

(3)

(4)

Working for a change?

The same as you?

(5)

71 Lothian Road Edinburgh EH3 9AZ Phone: 0870 606 5566

Fax: 0870 606 5588

If you ask, we can also provide copies of the report in the following formats from:

Community Care Division St Andrew’s House

Edinburgh EH1 3DG Phone: 0131 244 3546

Fax: 0131 244 3528

• Computer disc (complete report) • The Internet (complete report) • (Website address

www.scotland.gov.uk/about/HD/CCD1/00017548/home.aspx • A summary of the report is available in easy read and some

community languages

(6)

v Contents

Short summary

Most people with a learning disability want to work, and the evidence shows that they get the same satisfaction from working as anyone else. Most want employment in ordinary jobs. Some people with a learning disability want to set up their own business, and could do this with support. But in Scotland it is estimated that only one adult in 20 with learning disabilities has any form of paid work.

In an equal opportunity society, if any adult wants to work, support should be provided to make this possible. This is still not happening for people with a learning disability.

People with a learning disability are often put off work because the benefits system is complicated. They don’t know if they would be better off in work, and they are not sure they would get back on benefits if they lost their job.

Another problem is that lots of people don’t think people with a learning disability can work – sometimes people themselves don’t yet have the confidence, sometimes their families don’t think they could do a real job.

Also, many professionals don’t think about work at all when they are

planning the future with people – and sometimes discourage people when they say they want a job.

Many employers are willing to employ people with a learning disability, but some have never been asked. Being good at employing someone with a learning disability should be part of being a good employer. Employers need advice and support to bring out the best in employees who have a learning disability.

People with a learning disability need extra help to choose, get and keep a job. At the moment, there are lots of different agencies to help people do this – but they don’t work together well.

Helping people with a learning disability to choose, get and keep work should be a mainstream co-ordinated service. Although there is quite a lot of money in the system people are often told ’we can’t help you until next year’. Local authorities should agree a local strategy as part of their Community Plan.

(9)

Jobcentre Plus and Careers Scotland should make sure they meet the needs of people with a learning disability. Starting at school, people with a learning disability should be helped to think about employment prospects, and to try part-time jobs.

Local Area Co-ordinators (LACs) and care managers should be helping people think about employment. Families and support workers can also help people choose and find work.

Closer partnerships between local authorities, employers, voluntary

organisations, trade unions, Department for Work and Pensions, Careers Scotland, people with a learning disability and families will help to take this strategy forward. Training and awareness-raising will be an important part of achieving a step change in employment for people with learning disabilities change.

A very clear national lead on employment for people with learning disabilities is needed from the Scottish Executive. This national leadership needs to

(10)

3 List of Recommendations

List of recommendations

Recommendation 1: Specifically publicising to people with learning disabilities the advantages of employment and the role of the new tax credits

We recommend that the Scottish Executive approach the Inland Revenue to request that they – directly or through a commissioned agency –

specifically promote the new tax credit system targeting people with learning disabilities. The Executive should also ask the Department for Work and Pensions to commission and distribute accessible booklets about benefits and services they provide. This could include a web-based guide for people with learning disabilities addressing Frequently Asked

Questions about moving into and sustaining employment.

Recommendation 2: Making work pay for people with learning disabilities who receive care and support at home

We recommend that the Scottish Executive continues its work on applying Supporting People to Scotland and consider the need for a guidance note clarifying that local authorities should disregard any earned income in their charging policies under Supporting People.

Recommendation 3: Ending benefits uncertainty and reducing the risks of taking work for people with learning disabilities

(11)

The Scottish Executive should also enable the risk of taking employment to be minimised for people with learning disabilities. We recommend that the Scottish Executive asks the Department for Work and Pensions to

consider protecting the level of benefits for people with learning disabilities beyond the present linking period if they are unable to continue in work for any reason.

Recommendation 4: Gathering statistics: raising the visibility of learning disability and enabling Scotland to measure progress We recommend that the Scottish Executive examines, with the Disability Rights Commission and the Department for Work and Pensions, ways to develop monitoring and public reporting arrangements specifically for people with learning disabilities in areas such as employment (e.g.

recruitment and retention) and education (e.g. student destinations). This should include examination of the feasibility of annual diversity reporting by employers, in anticipation of changes in equality legislation and

promotion arising from the European Union Amsterdam Treaty.

Recommendation 5: Working with employers to promote a new Scottish ’all means all’ inclusive business culture

We recommend that the Scottish Executive works with Scottish employers and representative organisations, to develop the capacity of all Scottish employers to include all in the workplace, including people with the most significant learning disabilities. Representatives should include the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Trades Union Council, the Scottish CBI, NHS and COSLA representatives, the Equality Commission and

(12)

Recommendation 6: Providing leadership on the development and implementation of policies which enable people with learning disabilities to achieve their potential for employment

We recommend that Transport, Enterprise and Life Long Learning be the lead department for the Scottish Executive on employment for people with learning disabilities. As part of this leadership it should work closely with other departments, in particular with the areas of education, social justice and local government. It should establish and chair a cross-cutting

national steering group including business representatives, health and local authority Partnership in Practice representatives, supported employment agencies, Local Area Co-ordinators, Disability Rights Commission,

Education, Jobcentre Plus, Department for Work and Pensions, Careers Scotland, people with learning disabilities and families to oversee and drive the implementation of this report.

Recommendation 7: Joining it all up locally

Local authorities are best placed to devise effective local arrangements for planning, delivery and monitoring of employment services for people with learning disabilities. We recommend that in this community planning process, they work with other key local agencies including their local Scottish Enterprise company, local Careers Scotland and link Department for Work and Pensions staff, along with supported employment agencies, other relevant voluntary sector providers, local employers, schools,

colleges, people with learning disabilities and families.

We also recommend that local authorities demonstrate leadership by example by employing a locally proportionate number of people with learning disabilities within the local authority itself.

Recommendation 8: A step change in mainstream opportunities for young people with learning disabilities

(13)

process from school to post-school employment, education and training. In order to further establish equal opportunities for young people with learning disabilities, personal key workers should be able to access

financial resources to assist young people with learning disabilities, where needed, with a positive post-school option. Options for school leavers should be as varied as people’s needs and aspirations, but would be expected to include:

• Paid work.

• ’Gap year’ opportunities to pair up with another young person to travel, live and work internationally.

• Leadership opportunities like the Princes Trust or Fairbridge. • Mainstream training for work opportunities.

• Volunteering opportunities. • An integrated college course.

Recommendation 9: Filling the knowledge gap

We recommend that the Scottish Executive commission a coherent three year programme of research and development activities to inform policy which supports the employment of people with learning disabilities. This should take account of the research into supported employment for people with learning disabilities in Scotland due to be commissioned in late 2003. We recommend the following areas for action.

• Research for, and production of, a series of guides to good practice in supported employment for different audiences, including community planning teams, health and social work professionals, agencies in the employment field (mainstream and specialist), employers, and people with learning disabilities and their families.

• Development of proposals for professionals working in supported employment, including role definitions, salaries and rewards, and qualifications.

• Development in consultation with the supported employment sector of responsive monitoring and evaluation methods. • Development with relevant partners of a national approach to

(14)

level mainstream competence in service provision for people with learning disabilities across a range of agencies by making sure that good quality training is provided (e.g. across all Jobcentre Plus staff, local authority front-line staff, schools and colleges). • Research into achieving the mainstreaming of, and sustainability

of, funding for supported employment (i.e. research to overcome short-term, project-based funding), and into best practice models of change to achieve the shift from care-based to employment-based lives for people with learning disabilities.

• Research that provides cost and benefit analyses of employment versus non-employment for people with learning disabilities over people’s lifetimes.

We recommend that any research programme should include

employment-related participatory action research programme run by, and for, people with learning disabilities.

Recommendation 10: Practical leadership for the supported employment strategy

The next steps for implementation of this report involve:

• Providing assistance and support to the different agencies identified to implement this joint strategy.

• Commissioning the programme of research and development work, described above.

• Working across departments of the Scottish Executive and with all the stakeholders to keep developing and refining the national strategy for employment of people with a learning disability as set out in this report.

(15)

Prologue: 5 years from now

The vision of the short-life working group on employment.

2008: Every young person with a learning disability leaving school this year has had work experience in a mainstream workplace.

Each young person with a learning disability has a plan for where next, and for most people that includes paid employment. Agencies and employers work together effectively to provide continuity and person-centred support on and off the job.

50% of adults with a learning disability are now in paid employment,

including people with high support needs, people from ethnic minorities and people aged over 50. Everyone in work is better off than if they were not working.

The Scottish Executive has established a National Centre for Support in

Employment which provides back-up expertise to local supported employment agencies, employers and policy-makers.

People working in the supported employment field have a good framework for training and career development. Funding for supported employment is long-term and mainstreamed.

There is an annual ’diversity audit’ for all employers over a certain size, which has the effect of specifically encouraging the employment of people with a learning disability.

The ’Additional Support for Working’ Act has set out a clear framework of rights and responsibilities, and has rationalised the various schemes and subsidies through a single ’Additional Support for Working’ grant.

(16)

9 Prologue

Each local authority has a co-ordinated approach in its Community Plan for employment for people with learning disabilities.

Employers are confident in their ability to recruit and manage employees with a learning disability as part of their workforce, and they can get practical advice and hands-on help with any problems they can’t manage themselves. They pay the going rate for the job. Co-workers provide ’natural supports’.

(17)

Who we are

The same as you?was published to wide acclaim in May 2000. It was the first in-depth analysis for 20 years to examine the relationship between people with learning disabilities and the services which affect their lives.

The same as you?was warmly welcomed because of the way in which people with learning disabilities had been involved in its development. They were clear they did not wish to be stigmatised or institutionalised. They wanted to live at home, with support as required. People with learning disabilities wanted to take control of their own lives – to live the same as you.

In June 2001 the Scottish Executive set up a group to oversee the implementation of the 29 recommendations in The same as you?This is called the National Implementation Group. It includes people with learning disabilities, family carers and voluntary and public sector representatives.

The National Implementation Group decided on three priority areas which it considered would have a significant impact on quality of life for people with learning disabilities. It set up short-life working groups on:

• Local Area Co-ordination.

• Closure of long-stay hospitals and alternative arrangements for people leaving hospital.

• Employment for people with learning disabilities.

(18)

11 Who we are

Introduction

’What do you do at work?’

’I do the photocopying, the mail and answer the telephone. I have my own computer at work. A job coach trained me. I work 10-4 Monday to Friday. I get picked up in a taxi at 9.30 and then taken home at night.’ ’What did you do before you got your job?’

’I went to a day centre.’ ’Do you enjoy your job?’

’Yes but I’m looking forward to moving offices’. ’What would be your ideal job?’

’I like my job now. I like being busy. I would like to do more typing, and I like different things …’

’What do you do with your wages?’

’I bought a computer – I pay a bit at a time for it. I make cards on my computer. I am going on holiday in May and for a fortnight in September. I am going to Spain but I have been to Greece before.’

Focus group for workers with learning disabilities: January 2003.

Having a job is one of the most basic measures that indicates a person is likely to feel included in society. The same as you? Recommendation 16says:

’Local authorities need to give much greater priority to developing a range of employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities. And, with health boards, those authorities should lead by example in employing more people with learning disabilities.’

This report draws together experience and evidence to analyse the barriers to employment for people with a learning disability and makes recommendations for a joint strategic approach to tackle these barriers in Scotland.

This report is focused on employment – proper paid work doing a job that needs doing, with equal rights and the same pay as other workers doing the same job. Voluntary work can be a valuable alternative, but people with learning disabilities often get exploited because people confuse real work, work

placements undertaken as part of training, and voluntary work. The idea of supported employment as we use it in this report is described in

(19)

One of the key elements of this report is highlighting the role played by dozens of supported employment agencies in Scotland who already use their expertise to nurture, create, and sustain the link between people with learning disabilities and the workplace. It is this practical work, already benefiting hundreds of people with learning disabilities in Scotland, that helps us know that the ’range of employment opportunities’ looked for in The same as you?is achievable. The breadth of experience, tenacity and flair used in supported employment projects in all areas of the country gives us real cause for optimism.

Methodology

In compiling the report the employment sub-group have drawn extensively on published literature to assess how entrenched the problem is and to identify the right questions to be asking.

We conducted two types of original research. Firstly, we developed employment-focused e-questionnaires (Appendix 3) for every Partnership in Practice (PIP) co-ordinator in Scotland.

We then conducted five focus groups of people with learning disabilities and of family members, focusing on real life experiences of employment, seeking employment, and alternatives to employment.

Finally we used the rich experience and expertise of the Employment short-life working group members (Appendix 4).

This report was approved by the National Implementation Group for The same as you?on 22 August 2003.

Many recommendations in the report may be adapted for other groups who face major difficulties in becoming employed, for example people with mental health problems or people with physical disabilities. There are common issues facing many disadvantaged groups. But there are also issues that specifically and disproportionately affect the employment prospects of people with learning disabilities. Our recommendations aim to clearly and specifically address these.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their thoughtful contributions to this report. All names used in case studies and focus groups have been

(20)

13 Introduction

Principles

It is important to set out the key principles that guide our work in this report.

1. No one who wants to work is unemployable, whatever his or her

disability.

2. We can only ensure fair employment for people with a learning

disability through a ’mainstreaming’ approach. Inclusive

employment must be seen as a mainstream part of normal employment and enterprise in Scotland. Specialist agencies play a vital role in

complementing and supporting – but not replacing – the contribution of employers, work teams, the role of Jobcentre Plus and the contributions of people with a learning disability themselves.

3. Political leadership at a national level needs to enable

professionals working with people with learning disabilities to follow the successful Norwegian principle of ’employment first’.

Norway’s approach is based on the welfare principle that every person has the right to participate in work, and work should be encouraged for everyone whatever his or her disability, diagnosis or label, before benefits are considered (Evans, 1999). This means that ’employment thinking’ supersedes ’day centre thinking’, ’training thinking’, ’special college thinking’ and so on. Glasgow Learning Disability Partnership is already officially committed ’to identifying and securing employment for people with learning disabilities in the City as the first choice in developing meaningful employment opportunities’ (GLDP, 2003).

4. For a society engaging in equal opportunities for all, achieving

mainstream employment of people with learning disabilities is in

principle the right thing to do – whether it is a financially cheap thing

to do or financially expensive thing to do.

5. The social and institutional invisibility of learning disability needs

to end.

6. The stereotyping of people with learning disabilities needs to end

and be replaced with a person-centred view.

7. The leadership required to lever the changes expressed above

needs, above all, to keep hold of the mainstreaming vision, taking

(21)

(22)

15 Principles

What’s the problem?

’I keep on being assessed for employment but never get a job.’

(Interview: The same as you?p60)

Unemployment for all disabled people is two to three times the average level (Labour Force Survey, Winter 2001: 39% disabled people in work, compared with 81% of non-disabled).

The generally accepted UK figure of employment for people with a significant learning disability is far worse: approximately 5% are in employment. It is hard to be precise because no official baseline data on employment for people with a learning disability is collected. However, in Scotland a recent survey by Glasgow City Council showed that only 3.5% of 3,800 adults with a learning disability known to health and social services were in employment (Alcock, Common Knowledge). At the end of this report we recommend that research be commissioned by the Scottish Executive to fill this massive

information gap.

There could be three obvious explanations for why people with a learning disability are not in employment:

• People don’t want to work. • There are no jobs.

• People with a learning disability are unemployable.

But none of these explanations holds water.

People do want to work

The best available evidence is that 65% of people with learning disabilities would like a paid job (Glenn & Lyons, 1996).

The standard measure of people with a significant learning disability is four adults per 1,000 of a general population, or 20,000 people across Scotland.

(23)

There are jobs

Economic forecasts for the UK show that the number of jobs is rising steadily. Nick Brown MP, recent Minister for Work, recently announced that the UK continued to enjoy economic stability, rising employment and more people moving into work.

’Economic stability is delivering rising employment – up by 242,000 over the year. This is a very good performance in the face of increased global

economic uncertainty. Vacancies are high and our active labour market policies are ensuring that people take up these opportunities and move into work. There are more than 10,000 new vacancies in Jobcentres every

working day and many more coming up all the time, across the country and in all types of occupations.’ (Department for Work and Pensions Press

Release,18 December 2002)

While some of these new jobs demand a very high level of scientific, technical or management skill, the majority are much more accessible jobs in the

service, catering and retail sectors. Many high-tech employers such as

universities, hospitals, banks and science parks use high numbers of ancillary staff to keep the place running.

There are 94,000 private sector employers in Scotland, 6,000 of which employ more than 50 people (Scottish Executive/ONS Corporate Statistics 2001). If every large employer worked with supported employment agencies to support only one person with learning disabilities, the unemployment problem for this group would be halved.

If the estimated 12,000 people in Scotland with learning disabilities who aspire to work were employed for 16 hours per week at £5.00 an hour, they would generate about £50m a year in earnings.

People are employable

The last 10-20 years has seen an explosion of supported employment

agencies in the UK, successfully supporting people with learning disabilities to choose, get and keep a job. Scotland has several dozen of these agencies enabling hundreds of people throughout the country to work and hundreds of employers to employ people with learning disabilities. Thousands of people in Scotland work alongside people with learning disabilities each day. Although most agencies are based in the voluntary sector, the following example

(24)

17 What’s the problem? Barriers to employment

Launched in 1999, the supported employment scheme in North Lanarkshire has helped dozens of local people with learning disabilities to find and maintain jobs suited to their abilities and interests. Job coaches based in the social work department work closely with people with learning disabilities to build a detailed picture of their abilities, experience and preferences. This is then matched with a suitable job in the public or private sector. The job coach learns the job and then works with the employee, using company training methods, until the employee is confident and able to work independently. The job coach remains in contact with the employee and employer to provide ongoing support and advice.

There are a range of schemes in place to subsidise additional costs which may be incurred by employers, and increasingly local councils are actively changing service priorities – away from day centre cultures towards helping people with learning disabilities become included as part of everyday working life.

(25)

Barriers to employment

The Employment short-life working group carried out new research for this report. Our findings were entirely consistent with those of previous studies and confirmed that the most significant problems in achieving supported employment for people with learning disabilities are well established.

1

Benefits

The research of O’Bryan et al. (2000, 16-17) demonstrates how people with disabilities face both uncertainty and complexity when seeking to move from benefits to work. Our PiP co-ordinators’ survey equally found that resolution of benefits confusion for people with learning disabilities was the one issue that would make the most difference to supported employment.

Of twenty PiP co-ordinators responding to our survey, nine felt that the Scottish Executive could do most to help with supported employment for people with learning disabilities by addressing the benefits trap,

working with Westminster where necessary.

Five PiP co-ordinators thought that Jobcentre Plus should prioritise

simplification of the benefits system to aid transitions into work.

Interestingly PiP co-ordinators do not perceive the level of benefit payments as a disincentive to employment (and elsewhere in the survey the consensus is that pay is also not perceived as an influential driving force). The ’trap’ is that the benefits rules and culture do not make it easy for people with a learning disability to take up employment. This tallies with The same as you?

recommendation 17: ’The Scottish Executive should consider raising, with the Department of Social Security, specific areas of concern related to benefits and support for people with learning disabilities.’

These areas of concern combine

a) to make it difficult for individuals and agencies to encourage people with a learning disability to take up employment;

b) to put off employers from employing people with complex needs; and c) to create debilitating uncertainty for people and their families. This is

(26)

Supported employment workers on the North Lanarkshire Supported Employment scheme note that one of their keys to success when ’selling’ supported employment to people and their families has been early assurance about assisting the person and their family through the benefits/wages

transition. Only 2% of their clients of all ages have ever previously worked. However, families attending a focus group that we held in North Lanarkshire confirmed that, once people had started work, the other benefits of work (adult status, community connections and a sense of worth) were more important than financial gain.

’Getting a job makes me a real man.’: focus group participant.

2

Expectations and aspirations

Low expectations by people with learning disabilities

11 of 20 responses to our PiP survey showed the aspiration of people

with learning disabilities to work as being one of the three strongest

driving forces for achieving employment.

Our focus groups confirmed that people with learning disabilities want to work, if only they are asked.

Martin ’hates’ his current job, ’loathes it’ and ’everyone knows’ this. Martin’s ideal job would be running his own video shop. He say that he ’doesn’t know how to ask for help’ in achieving this.

Tim would like to be a joiner. Tim thought that his job would entail working in a squad and he wouldn’t be bothered who he worked with as long as the job gets done! The types of work that he would do would be going to people’s houses to measure jobs and do repairs but he would like to go to houses with dogs. The tools that Tim thought he would need are a hammer, saw and snips.

(27)

Beth would like to be a school secretary. She would have lots of paperwork to do for meetings, she would help the janitor with his paperwork, she would be working with the head teacher, teachers and the janitor. If the kids come into her office she would tell them ‘sorry too busy’ and if Beth had to work late she would have her tenants’ meetings in the school.

Weston’s detailed research on people with complex needs in employment (2002, 93) also found that people had both positive and realistic expectations of what having a job would be like. Their motivations for wanting a job

included a desire for choice, control and independence, avoiding boredom, meeting people, getting paid and having an opportunity to achieve and succeed. This reinforces both the findings of our North Lanarkshire families’ focus group, and the ideas expressed in our other focus groups, as above.

When asked, many people with learning disabilities have a clear idea of what they want to do: but lots of people are never asked. The contrast with the experience of most young people who are relentlessly asked formally and informally ’what are you going to be when you grow up’ couldn’t be more poignant or telling. This is the polar opposite of being treated ’the same as you’. Many people with a learning disability do not get community care assessments or person-centred plans – and even when there is a formal opportunity like this, employment is often not discussed. Many children and young people with a learning disability miss out on proper work experience and other chances to learn about the world of work. As a result, they may not think of themselves as ’a person who works’. Normal aspirations are lost.

But even when people have clear aspirations, they may not know how and where to get help to convert these aspirations into a real job.

Low expectations by families

Our survey showed that seven of 20 PiP co-ordinators believe that low

family expectations and over-protectiveness are strong barriers to

achieving supported employment.

(28)

Sara felt that Jonathan could be running his own business, perhaps walking dogs, taking in animals, or gardening, with the necessary support to

employ and pay people.

Michelle felt that the ideal job for Darren would be working in a holiday camp, cleaning underwater lights in the swimming pools, perhaps helping in the amusement arcades and making slush puppies. This would demand that he must be offered career choices outside his locality, and that he would start living away from home early in his adult life.

When specifically asked, family aspirations are not limited to ’special’ jobs in ’special’ places for their child. Aspirations include the normal range of career options including self-employment, geographical movement, normal jobs in normal places and so on. It is a different question to ask how society can best facilitate these choices. The point is that families cannot necessarily be

assumed to be low in expectation or ’overprotective’. But families need to be asked the right questions in order to reveal these normal aspirations.

Reinforcing this finding, our focus group of people whose sons and daughters were already in paid employment with regular, high street employers were uniformly positive about the experience (’It’s been like a miracle’, ’It’s a Godsend’). The interviews with them highlighted the benefits to both family and employee.

Justine, Mona, Kerry and Rachel each have children with a learning disability in paid employment, achieved through their local supported employment project:

Beth (40) has been working for 4 years in the Social Work Department as a clerical assistant.

Dorothy (18) works at a social services centre as a clerical assistant.

Tim (40) has been working at McDonalds as a Dining Room Host for the past 3 years.

(29)

What has happened to parents because of their son/daughter’s work?

Justine has much more time to herself to do things she enjoys like bowling, shopping and socialising because her daughter now works full time.

Mona is just happy that her son is happy in work. Because he went to a day centre from age 16 there is no real change in her life.

Kerry feels that a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders now that her daughter is in a job she enjoys.

Rachel is pleased that her daughter is now much more independent and confident. This has eased much of the pressure on her. Christine is now financially independent which is a good thing but there are still worries for Rachel over Christine’s vulnerability because she doesn’t have a very strong concept of the value of money.

Does your son/daughter socialise through work?

Rachel said that Christine has a better social life than her! She is included in office nights out and socialises well with her workmates.

Justine also described Beth’s social life as full. A telling point was at her recent 40th birthday party, there were no service users there. ‘Beth has a great life!’

Tim tends not to socialise with workmates but is often asked to join them.

Parents’ expectations are shaped by what they are told by professionals and others, sometimes from before their child is born. But their expectations can be revolutionised when they see the difference that work makes for their son or daughter, or even when they are asked questions which open up wider possibilities, beyond the stereotypical, old-fashioned expectations.

(30)

Low expectations by service providers

By ’service providers’ we mean group homes and supported living agencies, supported employment agencies, day services, community learning disability teams, care managers, schools and colleges.

The Riddell Advisory Committee was set up by the Scottish Executive to undertake a strategic review of the special educational provision for severe low incidence disabilities in Scotland (Scottish Executive, 1999). They

concluded that:

’Young people with severe low incidence disabilities have considerable amounts of money spent on their education and yet post-school options are severely restricted and appear not to offer sufficient variety and opportunity for further development. This group has traditionally been regarded as incapable of participating in the labour market...’

Nine respondents to our PiP survey thought that a culture change by

service providers towards making employment a real option would

be among the three strongest driving forces for achieving quality supported employment.

Similarly, nine PiP co-ordinators thought that service providers should

prioritise meaningful individual choice for people with learning

disabilities, through person-centred planning, life plans, raising

expectations or taking a ’long view of individuals’ needs’. A typical response was ’Loosen up and become more responsive to individual need’.

Eight PiP co-ordinators thought that service providers should ensure that employment is a clear and real choice for people with learning

disabilities. Typical responses were ’Integrate employment needs into

assessment of needs – give it status’, ’Earlier intervention to promote employment ethos and encourage to seek work’.

(31)

The Future Needs Assessment meeting at school was – by her own choice – Rachel’s first involvement with Social Work. At the meeting, a course for people with special needs at college was the only future choice offered for her daughter Christine. But what was taught at college did not equip her daughter Christine for work. It focused on life skills rather than

vocational training and did not offer any expectation of paid work for the future.

Rachel felt this to be ’a waste of time’. But the alternative of Christine being stuck at home was less desirable.

Another of our parents’ focus groups felt that special schools careers officers

’don’t help much’ because they ’don’t think inclusively’. The parents also felt that a wider range of employment experiences were needed at school

because it was very hard for people with learning disabilities to experiment with a range of jobs after leaving school as most young people are able to do. This fundamental difference needed to be re-balanced by schools so that young people with learning disabilities were able to get good quality, diverse work experience before leaving school.

But, as Christine’s experience above and Martin’s experience below demonstrate, the problem of different treatment for people with learning disabilities continues post-school, when college courses designed for people with learning disabilities do not focus on their vocational interests. This can tie people up for years.

When he left school Martin was on the dole for four or five months and couldn’t get a job through the job centre. He was asked to go to college for a few months and ended up spending 15 years there. He did a wide range of activities – reading, writing, horse riding, building, gardening, etc. and most enjoyed computing, PE and football.

Many colleges fail to link ’special’ courses specifically to employment. They become simply a way to spend time.

The work that supported employment agencies have been doing for years now in Scotland still struggles to work in harmony with the focus of social care professionals. The example below from Tayside Employment Disability Unit is typical of the individualised support undertaken by supported

(32)

CASE STUDY – Michael’s story

The mother of a 26-year-old man with learning disabilities contacted her local supported employment agency as her son, Michael, who had a social worker, wanted a job. The agency spent a significant amount of time establishing rapport and identifying coping mechanisms to enable him to manage a transition into work. They agreed that in the first instance a work experience placement with a local employer would help. The agency approached an employer to explain how the agency would support Michael if they could ’carve’ a job incorporating a variety of tasks in which Michael wished to gain some experience. The company was very open to ideas. Work adjustments were made by the agency and the employer with Michael during the placement and it became clear that Michael was not only enjoying the work but was demonstrating potential that the employer considered worthy of pursuing further. Near the end of the placement the employer tabled an offer of part-time employment to Michael.

At this time Michael had a meeting with his social worker to discuss work and benefits. The meeting led to real doubt for Michael about the

financial gains that he could make through working and, indeed, if it was the right time to make the transition from incapacity to supported

employment at all. As a result, Michael declined the offer of open employment and a Permitted Work situation was agreed with the

employer, meaning that Michael could work a maximum of 15 hours per week.

However, Michael’s ever-growing confidence soon meant that 15 hours per week work was not enough for him. The supported employment

agency helped him negotiate longer hours and a transition from benefits to wages. He is £77.46 per week better off than when he was on benefits.

The agency continues to support Michael and the company is training and developing him further. He has worked for the company for nine months and now has the confidence to be considering leaving the family home and thinking of buying his own property.

(33)

Crumpets Café

Highland Social Work services was an early adopter of the shift from day care to community-based activities. In 1999 the Corbett Centre in

Inverness applied for the franchise to run a city centre café. This has

enabled them to provide 18 training places for up to two full days a week for people formerly using day centres. They have drawn supported

employment worker input into the café which has enabled nine people to start vocational profiles and try work tasters elsewhere, leading to

trainees starting to take up open employment outwith the café.

Crumpets café has provided an opportunity for adults with a learning disability to move from a day centre setting and gain experience of working in a

commercial enterprise, then move into other types of employment that better meets their personal needs and aspirations if they wish. It has, from the

beginning, been seen as a route to employment rather than an extension of day service provision. Similarly, North Lanarkshire supported employment scheme told us that most funding is tied up in Day Centres and their shifting of this tradition into employment-based thinking has created a radical difference in outlook for everyone involved. This reinforces the logic of the Norwegian model – think employment first – that has now been taken up in Glasgow.

3

Discrimination and human resource management

People with learning disabilities can be treated in ways which give them parity with other employees, or in ways which treat them differently. Our focus

groups gave examples, good and bad.

David has been working in the same factory for 10 years making boxes for dispatch five days a week. He walks to work. His shift is from 7am-3.30pm. He gets the same wages as others, gets a wage slip and is in the trade union. He sometimes has breaks and lunch with others, sometimes on his own. His key worker helped him to get the job and used to come to work with him.

(34)

The first is a good example of ’fading’ support in a regular job. The second shows how current structures still allow unequal treatment for the individual and uncertainty for all. Tina’s employment status is unclear, she could be being treated unfairly and she could be unprotected if she had an accident at work.

We asked PiP co-ordinators what they thought employers could do which would most improve opportunities for quality supported employment for people with learning disabilities. There was a strong consensus.

Eleven out of 20 PiP co-ordinators thought that employers could do most to improve opportunities for quality supported employment for people with learning disabilities by re-examining equal opportunity policies,

recruitment policies, and/or job descriptions with a view to

improving access to work for people with a learning disability. Comments included ’Think creatively about how a job can be done’, ’Ensure physical access’, ’Offer flexible employment opportunities’.

Seven PiP co-ordinators identified overcoming ’prejudice’ or fear of

’difference’, the need for employers to have a ’better understanding of learning disability’ or to understand that each individual has ’different needs’, to ’value people’s strengths and qualities’ or to ’look at the long-term benefits … not at the short-long-term difficulties’. These can be

summarised as a need for employer training in diversity

management with particular reference to learning disability.

We heard one example at our focus groups where better human resource management could clearly have kept someone in a job.

Jeremy worked at a supermarket in the warehouse unloading the lorries. The voluntary organisation helped Jeremy to get the job but it all fell down when the person who Jeremy was working with left the company and they had no one else for Jeremy to work with. Jeremy is now out of work.

(35)

One of the key aims for supported employment agencies is to broker and maintain jobs that achieve equal treatment for people with learning

disabilities. Our parents’ focus group emphasised the importance of this basic need. All parents thought it important that their children’s jobs were proper jobs for proper pay. Agencies may negotiate work placements, trainee positions, volunteer positions and so on, but strictly as an interim measure, with limited time and defined purpose. The primary role of supported employment agencies is to get people into proper commercial jobs with proper contracts and equal pay, ensuring that the person is able to use their full range of skills and develop their full potential.

4

Lack of awareness

Our PiP survey told us that lack of awareness was an extremely important factor influencing the employment of people with learning disabilities on several different levels.

Seven PiP co-ordinators wanted the Scottish Executive to promote more actively to employers the employment of people with

learning disabilities. Suggestions included: ’working with employers to

develop their capacity to employ people as equals’; ’golden hellos for employers’ to ’investment in social firm infrastructure’.

Eight PiP co-ordinators thought that Jobcentre Plus should be doing more to increase employers’ awareness of learning disability. Typical comments included ’Recognise the importance of quality marketing and publicity to promote the service and gain the respect of employers’; ’Focus on people’s skills and abilities NOT disability’.

Five PiP co-ordinators thought that employers could do most to improve opportunities by providing disability awareness training for staff, including training on rights and on individual needs.

Five PiP co-ordinators thought that people with learning disabilities who are in work should promote the benefits of work to other

people with learning disabilities.

(36)

So, we suggest that awareness-raising should incorporate strategies to achieve broad social visibility and to achieve ordinary awareness by

employers and employees in work contexts. It should incorporate direct work by people with learning disabilities and by Jobcentre Plus to achieve

mainstream employment outcomes. People with a learning disability who are in work, and parents who have a son or daughter in work, are the best

people to convince other families of the benefits of employment. It is also likely to be true that employers are the best people to convince other employers. Jobcentre Plus and the Scottish Executive will have key roles in raising awareness of learning disability in Scotland too.

One example of good practice is in Highland where each of the local PiP areas has a ’champion’ for employment. The Scottish Executive could also raise the profile of people with learning disabilities as potential employees in their statements and policies on social inclusion. Later in the report we

recommend mechanisms for strategically-increasing awareness.

5

Poor co-ordination of employment services

For people with a learning disability, finding and getting work is particularly complex. There is a plethora of schemes and initiatives, and it can be hard to know who is responsible for what, even at the most simple level:

Sara asked for careers advice for her son Jonathan at his Future Needs Assessment. Careers advisors told Sara that their role was not to become involved in getting training, only in finding work.

In our survey:

Eleven PiP co-ordinators thought that service providers could do most to improve opportunities for quality supported employment by working

more strongly and coherently in partnerships with each other, with

users, carers and employers.

Twelve PiP co-ordinators thought that Jobcentre Plus could do most to improve opportunities for quality supported employment through

stronger joint working with other agencies, including joint training

(37)

In most areas there is no single point of access for people with learning disabilities to obtain supported employment. Employment Focus by Jean Alcock (Common Knowledge) maps the myriad agencies in Glasgow and teases out further real difficulties caused by this fragmentation.

In the past people with learning disabilities have broadly been seen as ’unemployable’, rather than as ’unemployed’. Therefore they became the responsibility of health or social work departments, and of the voluntary sector. But as this assumption has begun to change, locally diverse responses have developed. In some areas, for example, both the local authority and several voluntary organisations offer a range of employment and training services – some ’pure’ supported employment, some training for employment, some sheltered workshops. This change is good, but this change has also led to inconsistency, complexity and difficulties in co-ordination.

But worse, mainstream employment services such as careers officers and government employment services have in the past not been accessible to people with a learning disability. Only one participant in Weston’s (2002) study of 30 people with complex needs had found work through the then Employment Service. Although the Workstep programme has been more successful in addressing the needs of people with a learning disability, and the new all-age Careers Scotland is becoming more focused on inclusiveness there is still some way to go in providing a responsive, mainstreamed and most of all co-ordinated service to all who need it, including those with the most significant learning disabilities.

6

Supported employment is still not a

mainstream-funded service

In our survey of PiP co-ordinators:

Thirteen of 20 PiP co-ordinators identified resource constraints as one of the three major barriers to achieving quality supported employment in Scotland, especially resources for staffing to sustain employment supports.

But, slightly differently, eleven PiP co-ordinators thought that the Scottish Executive could do most to improve opportunities for quality supported employment by providing mainstream funding for supported employment to enable it to

(38)

It is worth noting that two further PiP co-ordinators wanted the Executive to improve funding specifically for local authorities to develop supported employment.

In contrast to other services for people with learning disabilities (e.g. day services), supported employment projects have to rely on short-term project-based funding, often from a multiplicity of funders with different expectations and reporting requirements. The example below is from Renfrewshire.

Renfrewshire OPEN supported employment project 2003/4 is funded through a mix of:

Local Authority Social Work Department

Local Authority Economic Development Department Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire

European Social Fund Objective 3 Para 2.1 Access to Work

to a total of £154,000.

In addition, Renfrewshire Workstep modernisation programme (moving people from sheltered workshops into community-based jobs) is funded from:

Local Authority Economic Development Department. Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire

European Social Fund Objective 3 Para 4.2a Workstep development (via Haven)

Workstep development (via Erskine)

to a total of £130,000.

On top of this they are funded for training to work with employers:

Workstep development via Enable (total £45,000).

(39)

Organisations that provide supported employment told us how this funding maze results in unacceptable inefficiencies for them. Disproportionate time spent by managers applying for funding and reporting to several ’masters’ is disproportionate time lost from supporting people with learning disabilities at work.

Similarly, they told us that this funding uncertainty results in supported

employment staff moving from project to project seeking job stability. This leads to an undermining of the vital continuity of relationship between supported employment worker, job seeker and employer. They told us that this problem is worsened by the wide national differential in salary levels for supported employment workers, reflecting both the problems of diverse funding sources and lack of co-ordination. The Employment short-life working group has found that starting salaries for employment workers across Scotland vary enormously, from £9,000 to £21,000.

The aim of supported employment is to include all, however complex our needs. But in the target-led culture demanded by short-term funding, there is an inbuilt incentive to target the ’most likely successes’. Although statistics are not routinely collected, history tells us that it is those with the most significant learning disabilities who are most likely to remain unemployed and socially excluded the longest. This will not change unless funding is mainstreamed, perhaps with the express purpose of targeting the most excluded first.

Another problem stemming from this fragmentation of funding is that there are considerable potential variations in quality between supported

employment agencies, and no accepted framework for defining and assessing quality ’job brokering’ in Scotland.

Eight out of 20 PiP co-ordinators in our survey thought that the Executive or service providers should prioritise national quality standards for

supported employment.

(40)

Conclusion

Most people with a learning disability want to work, but the great majority are unemployed for life. There has been a lack of co-ordinated action in Scotland to improve employment equity for this group.

We recommend a strategic approach at four levels, as shown in the pyramid diagram below.

A fairer and simpler tax and benefits system helps everyone to work.

The promotion of non-discrimination and equality removes barriers to

recruitment for a whole range of disadvantaged groups including older people and people from ethnic minorities as well as disabled people.

Inclusive employment practices are particularly important for people who

need some adjustment to the job so they can do it to the best of their ability. This might be a change in hours; some additional equipment; or carving up jobs differently so everyone can work to their strengths.

Changes at these three levels can make a great difference to the ’employability’ of many different disadvantaged groups. But additionally, people with a

learning disability may also need individualised, person-centred support

to choose, get and keep a job or to run their own business. This support will be different for each person, it may be ongoing or ’fading’ and will often need teamwork by several people including the employer.

Together, this requires leadership and co-ordination. The following section makes recommendations for changes in all four levels, together with

(41)

Leadership and co-ordination of supported employment

A fairer and simpler tax and benefits system

Promoting equality and

non-discrimination

Inclusive employment

practices

Person-centred

(42)

35

Recommendations – Lowering the barriers

Inequality in employment affects many different groups in society. For most disadvantaged groups (women, older people, people from ethnic minorities) there have been two broad strategies for change.

Firstly, non-discrimination and equal treatment. Employers are required by law not to discriminate unfairly on grounds of gender, race or disability (albeit that the provisions on disability are weaker than for the other groups) and to make reasonable adjustments to meet different people’s needs. From 2006, employers will not be able to discriminate unfairly on grounds of age, religion and sexuality.

Secondly, the business case for change. Employers have realised three things. Firstly, they are missing out on talent if they don’t go out and recruit from as large a pool as possible. Secondly, if they employ a diverse range of people they are seen as more attractive to and in tune with a diverse range of customers. Third, diverse teams at work can help everyone raise their game and solve problems more creatively.

Even so, there is still widespread discrimination in employment on grounds of gender, race and disability.

The unique position of people with a learning disability

Employment of people with learning disabilities has in the past been seen as an issue of disability (people can’t work because they are disabled) rather than equality (people with a learning disability should have an equal opportunity to work).

We think this needs to be changed, and that employment of people with a learning disability should be seen as an issue of equality and social justice. This is an important shift of perspective, partly because the ’business case’ is not as straightforward for people with a learning disability.

Most people with a learning disability are hardworking and committed employees who often make a contribution to the workforce which goes

beyond the work they do as an individual (Hill et al., 1999 in Weston, 2002).

(43)

But some people, because of their learning disability, cannot undertake the same range of tasks, or cannot complete work as quickly, or require a higher than average level of supervision, and sometimes need extra support on a permanent basis.

This is not to say that people cannot learn, or that they cannot exceed their own and others’ expectations: but it is to say that it is not enough simply to give people equal opportunities and to make the ’business case’ to

employers. But nor is it acceptable for employers to see employing people with a learning disability as a form of ’charity’.

New policy directions to help bridge the gap

Three additional policy levers are needed to achieve mainstream, open employment of all people with learning disabilities in Scotland.

First, employing a diverse workforce has to be identified as a social

requirement for all employers – just like existing equal opportunities, health

and safety, minimum wage and environmental responsibilities. People with a learning disability have to be included in the definition of a diverse workforce. This means that work needs to be done to achieve an acceptable way of

monitoring learning disability as part of wider disability monitoring in employment.

Secondly, assistance has to be provided to employers so they have the human resource management skills and the assistive technology to help employees with a learning disability to work effectively and sustainably.

Thirdly, for a relatively small number of people with high support needs, an equitable way must be found to fund the gap between productivity

and earnings. A variety of options are possible, including subsidising part or

all of the costs of a co-worker; supported self-employment; and directly funding jobs for people with high support needs in the public or voluntary sector. The Norwegian funding model may be one to follow (Evans, 1999). The ’Scottish solution’ requires research and development. But the solution(s) must not become routine employer subsidies for everyone with a learning disability or become alternatives to work in the commercial sector.

(44)

(45)

LEVEL ONE: A fairer and simpler tax and

benefits system

The interaction between pay, tax and benefits is always complex. But it increases in complexity for vulnerable people who are caught in the gaps between sickness and disability benefits, Income Support and employment, and housing, support and care benefits. The problem is that it tends to become most complex for the most vulnerable, including people with learning

disabilities. People with learning disabilities also tend to have the greatest difficulty understanding complex rules and advocating for themselves. They are the very people for whom the rules need to be most simple, but the opposite happens.

Compounding this, people typically pay very high marginal tax rates when moving from benefits into employment, so their net rate of pay is very low. As well as losing income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit, working tends to impose extra costs, for example for travelling to work, prescription charges and so on.

(46)

39

The above example shows that for some people with learning disabilities, the transition from benefits to wages currently offers little financial gain. But these disincentives are compounded by doubts about the potential barriers that may be had in regaining benefits if work finishes for any reason.

Although gaining employment does not mean that people lose Disability Living Allowance or even that they are subject to review, it seems that many people are told or understand that this might happen. As people with

learning disabilities are also more vulnerable than most to misinformation and inconsistency, a watertight benefits-to-work mechanism aimed specifically at this group is vital to give people the confidence that will enable them to take chances to work.

PERSON ONE

Prior to work:

Income support £53.00

Disability Living Allowance

Care and Mobility £53.45

No housing costs (lives with family)

TOTAL INCOME £106.45

Employment – 16 hours:

Earnings: £4.60/hour £73.60

Working Tax Credit £65.62

DLA Care and Mobility £53.45

Rent £00.00

BETTER OFF IN WORK

BY: £86.22

each week

PERSON TWO

Prior to work:

Income support and Severe

Disablement Allowance £120.90

Disability Living Allowance

Care and Mobility £53.45

Full Housing Benefit

Employment – 16 hours:

Earnings: £4.20/hour £67.20

Working Tax Credit £68.25

DLA Care and Mobility £53.45

Rent £5.38

BETTER OFF IN WORK

BY: £9.17

each week

(47)

But the long-awaited Department for Work and Pensions Green Paper Pathways to work: helping people into employment (November 2002) still focuses on getting disabled people into work in the short-term rather than recognising the benefits of supporting people in work in the medium and long term.

It offers little recognition of the work done by supported employment agencies who provide the delicate and skilled balancing act of joint support for the individual with learning disabilities, their employer and their co-workers, thereby enabling a successful transition to employment and – most importantly – its sustainability.

There has been some progress in recent years – for example, the tax credit system for people working 16 hours or more a week and the ’supported permitted work’ rules for people working less than 16 hours. The supported permitted work rules mean that people with a learning disability in supported employment can earn up to £67.50 per week without losing incapacity

benefit or severe disablement allowance – although they will still lose income support pound for pound if they earn more than £20 per week, and their housing benefit and council tax benefit will also be affected.

And whilst the Disabled Person’s Tax Credit has now been mainstreamed as part of the new tax credit system, this has not been publicised effectively and accessibly for people with learning disabilities, and therefore few people are likely to realise that it applies to them. The importance of providing clear, targeted information on benefits, tax credits and transitions to work cannot be overestimated in helping people, their families and professional supporters to assess the costs, benefits and risks of seeking work. If the policy aim can be to always ’minimise the risk’, more people with learning disabilities, including those with significant learning disabilities, will actively seek work.

Recommendation 1: Specifically publicising to people with learning disabilities the advantages of employment and the role of the new tax credits

We recommend that the Scottish Executive approach the Inland Revenue to request that they – directly or through a commissioned agency –

specifically promote the new tax credit system targeting people with learning disabilities. The Executive should also ask the Department for Work and Pensions to commission and distribute accessible booklets about benefits and services they provide. This could include a web-based guide for people with learning disabilities addressing Frequently Asked

(48)

41

The introduction of Supporting People, the availability of Direct Payments and the transfer of funding and responsibility for Preserved Rights from the

Department for Work and Pensions to local authorities from April 2002, all increase the flexibility of local authorities to provide individualised support to people in their own homes. This means that fewer people with a learning disability are now living in residential care and paying an ’all-in’ charge for care and accommodation, commonly of £300 or £400 per week. Again this contains the seeds of potential for allowing more people with significant learning disabilities to seek, get and keep a job.

But to take full advantage of this, to make real inroads into employment for people with learning disabilities, it is important that the Scottish Executive do more to minimise the perceived risk of taking employment. The Executive needs to go further and ensure that people are not financially disadvantaged or deterred in a move into employment by the prospect of increased local authority charges for care and support.

Recommendation 2: Making work pay for people with learning disabilities who receive care and support at home

We recommend that the Scottish Executive continues its work on applying Supporting People to Scotland and consider the need for a Guidance Note clarifying that local authorities should disregard any earned income in their charging policies under Supporting People.

Underlying all this is the inherent complexity of the tax and benefits system mixed with the persistent rolling out of tax and benefit initiatives which may or may not affect people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities are more likely to have difficulty negotiating complex systems than most of the population – and the complexity of the benefits system makes it very hard for even the very best professional communicators to give clear and easily

comprehensible advice. A 2-year Equal Theme A and Scottish

Executive-funded research and training initiative by the Scottish Poverty Information Unit is currently examining the question of how agencies can better help

marginalised groups, including people with learning disabilities, to

understand the benefits, tax credits and transitions to work. A training pack will result, which will be very welcome.

(49)

But the role of key workers in care homes and day centres, of Careers Scotland, of schools and colleges, and of those providing day-in, day-out floating support for people with learning disabilities are also absolutely vital – and commonly overlooked – in creating a culture of moving into work. These professionals are key ’gatekeepers’ to employment. They are key opinion formers who need to be able to communicate with confidence with people with learning disabilities about choices and risks in employment. The complexity of the transition from benefits to work makes this an unenviable task. So the path of least resistance –