Nearly a decade ago a radical promise was made to close the employment gap between people with learning disabilities and other disabled people by 2025. Yet unemployment has remained stubbornly high. Julie Ridley asks how successful Supported Employment has been in increasing opportunities for real paid jobs.
In 2009 in Valuing Employment Now, the Labour Government stated that to deny people with learning disabilities the opportunity to work was a ‘waste of talent for individuals, employers, society, and the wider economy’ (DH, 2009), pronouncing a radical commitment to increase employment opportunities by 2025, particularly jobs of 16 hours or more, and to close the employment gap with other disabled people. The government’s vision for adult social care (DH, 2010) actively encouraged the use of personal budgets for employment, although this has been difficult to implement (Davies et al, 2012). Yet, statistical information for England from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework shows a major gap between such policy rhetoric and the reality of people’s experience. Rates of employment amongst people with learning disabilities remain persistently low, and have been dropping year on year. The same is true in Scotland.
In 2015-16, only 5.8% of adults with learning disabilities known to local authorities were in employment compared to 48% for disabled people, and 75% for the general population. The Learning Disabilities Observatory report fewer people in any paid or self-employment by 2014/15, with most of those employed (71%) working less than 16 hours per week, and a sharp drop in the number of people working something like a half time job of 16 hours or more per week to achieve the economic, social and other benefits. Research in Scotland finds similarly low employment rates, with the vast majority of people with learning disabilities in employment being employed for 10 hours or less per week (Ridley et al, 2005; McTier et al, 2016).
All this is a far cry from the presumption of employability for everyone that underpins supported employment. Traditionally, getting a job involved someone progressing through various stages and acquiring skills until reaching the point of readiness to take on a specific role or responsibility. In contrast, the Supported Employment (SE) model, evolving from progressive movements in the field of disability, sought to place people directly into jobs and provide the support they need for as long as needed, commonly referred to as ‘place, train and maintain’. SE was first developed during the 1980s in the US and was widely implemented throughout Europe, increasing from just five agencies in the UK in 1986 to over 200 SE services in 1995, supporting an estimated 5,000 people in paid jobs, predominantly people with learning disabilities (Beyer et al, 1996).
Largely inaccessible
Since then, many local authorities have struggled to fund SE services because it is not a statutory requirement for them to do so, and the numbers of agencies and people supported has dwindled. Austerity measures and local authority cut-backs have played a part, but the sector has always been fragile despite its innovations and success in improving thousands of people’s quality of life. It is also because of confusion about how SE should be defined, resulting in various versions, including a DWP scheme in the 1990s providing employer subsidies. Originally designed to support those with high support needs, it is ironic that SE has been largely inaccessible to people with profound or severe disabilities. In mental health, it is generally referred to as Individual Placement and Support or IPS and has been subject to greater research scrutiny.
Despite an increasing body of research dating back to the 1970s showing that people with significant learning disabilities can be taught complex tasks using effective task training techniques such as ‘training in systematic instruction’ or TSI, the implementation of SE has been disappointingly slow (Beyer & Robinson, 2009). In 2006, the European Union of Supported Employment put this down to a number of issues: lack of a rights-based approach to disability, absence of national frameworks, a lack of dedicated funding, complicated welfare benefits systems, and a lack of leadership or national strategies. A more fundamental issue lies in whether jobs for as little as one hour per week count as SE (Hunter & Ridley, 2007). An independent review in the UK in 2009 by the Commission for Social Care Inspection and others, concluded that employment opportunities were a ‘distant goal’ for most people with learning disabilities.
Reflecting upon the fragility of the sector almost 20 years ago, a Policy Consortium (O’Bryan et al, 2000) underlined the urgent need for SE to become ‘much more widely available, with services of consistent quality’. The sector responded with development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Supported Employment (updated and revised in July 2017), and a Level 3 Certificate for practitioners. The call for a national strategy and investment in SE, however, wasn’t heeded. What’s more, it appears ever more difficult for people with learning disabilities to access the employment opportunities they aspire to. Huw Davies, Chief Executive for the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE), suggests the downward trend in employment corresponds to a lack of investment in SE but this could potentially be improved by the Local Supported Employment proof of concept trials announced in the green paper Work, health and disability to be implemented later this year. The trials will ensure ESA and Universal Credit claimants with learning disabilities or autism and those in contact with secondary mental health services, have better access to employment opportunities.
The current investment of £2¾m aims to explore combining central and local budgets to enhance SE delivery. Initially the funding will take place across nine local authority areas – Brighton and Hove, Cheshire West and Chester, York, Croydon, Hertfordshire, Kent, Shropshire, Stockport and Telford and Wrekin – with a view to securing further funding for wider national expansion. BASE anticipates this will increase the evidence base for SE and potentially improve the poor employment rates for people with learning disabilities thus far. Coupled with the conclusion that disabled people, governments and taxpayers are likely to benefit financially in the long term from more inclusive employment (Beyer and Beyer, 2016), such investment through proof of concept trials should be a good thing. However, the extent to which this translates into the radical transformation by 2025 envisaged in Valuing Employment Now remains to be seen.
References
Beyer, S., Goodere, L. and Kilsby, M. (1996) The Costs and Benefits of Supported Employment Agencies, London: The Stationery Office.
Beyer, S. and Robinson C. (2009) A Review of the Research Literature on Supported Employment: A Report for the cross-government learning disability employment strategy team. DH London.
Beyer, S, and Beyer, A. (2016) Economic impact of the inclusion of disabled persons in the labour market. EASPD.
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), Healthcare Commission, Mental Health Act Commission, (2009), Commissioning Services and Support for People with Learning Disabilities and Complex Needs, National Report of a Joint Review, CSCI/Healthcare Commission/Mental Health Act Commission.
Davies, H., Melling, K., & Wilson, P. (2012) Personalisation and Supported Employment. BILD.
Department of Health, (2009) Valuing Employment Now. DH London.
Department of Health (2010) A Vision for Adult Social Care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens. DH London.
Hunter, S., and Ridley, J (2007) Supported Employment in Scotland: some issues from research and implications for development. Tizard Learning Disability Review, 12, 2, pp3-13.
McTier, A, Macdougall, L, McGregor, A, Hirst, A, & Rinne, S (2016) Mapping the employability landscape for people with learning disabilities. Glasgow: SCLD.
O’Bryan, A., Simons, K., Beyer, S., and Grove, B (2000) The Policy Consortium for Supported Employment: A Framework for Supported Employment. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Ridley, J., Hunter, S., and Infusion Co-operative. 2005. “Go for it!” Supporting People with Learning Disabilities and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Employment. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.
Julie Ridley is Reader in Social Policy & Practice at UCLan and a member of Community Living’s editorial board.
