What do we know about
employment support for
People with learning
disabilities?
Dr. Carol Robinson
South West Employment
Institute
Overview of the afternoon
• A quick quiz
• Policy messages and messages from
research.
• What stops people with learning
disabilities getting paid jobs and careers?
• A Customised Approach to Supported
Employment
• Group work: case studies- what might you
do?
• New areas of work in the South West
Government Thinking
‘Welfare dependency is a significant problem in the UK today .
Around 1.4 million people have been out of work benefit ..., at
least 12million working age households receive financial
support from the Government each week . This costs around £85
billion per annum
Welfare dependency creates a number of costs for individual and
for society.
For individuals it can set people apart from the rest of society,
with evidence to suggest that the source of income may be more
important then the level of income in determining levels of social
exclusion
‘Disengagement from the labour market ...can have wider effects
the longer people remain out of work , ... the more likely it is that
their health will deteriorate and more obstacles to work will
develop’
Government Thinking
‘There
is also clear evidence that worklessness
contributes to ill health , unhappiness and
depression , with people who move into work
tending to report substantial improvement in
Mental Health. ...’
‘Less than half of all disabled people are employed
with some groups such as people with learning
disabilities having a significantly lower
employment rate , and a further 10% are
unemployed’
‘Employment offers the best and most sustainable
route out of poverty...,’
Quotations taken from Iain Duncan-Smith Secretary of State for Work and
Pensions- State of the nation report: poverty, worklessness and welfare
dependency in the UK
Recent Government Initiatives
• Get Britain Working
• Work Programme designed to
streamline previous work initiatives
• Workstep replaced by Work Choice
• Work Capability Assessment 2011. 1.5m
reassessed - either get Employment and
Support Allowance or JSA (Harrington
review)
• Work Clubs
• Sayce Report- recommended portable
personalised support & doubling of
Access to Work
What does the research say?
• People with moderate and severe learning
disabilities can learn and gain paid work
• Supported Employment provides better
outcomes than Sheltered employment
• Gender differences
• Job losses tend to be for social reasons
not inability to do the job
• Few hours in work and low wages mean
incomes not much improved but over
16hrs, people are better off
Supported Employment Research
findings
• Self esteem higher and engagement in
meaningful activity tend to be greater than
if people are in day services
• Inconclusive results relating to Quality of
Life measures but people with mild
learning disabilities tend to benefit most.
• Volunteering appears to be useful if used
for improving prospects of work, not
otherwise.
• However, case for work experience in
school is strong if well organised.
What works for people with a learning
disability learning jobs?
Severe
•
•
•
•
•
Moderate
Training on the jobSystematic Instruction
Job coach support on-site
Breaking tasks into steps
“Chaining” tasks together
Hierarchy of cues
– Physical guidance
– Gestures
– Verbal prompts
•
•
•
•
Job adaptation if needed
Managing praise and
reinforcement more closely
Specific social training
strategies
Work-based accreditation of
skills demonstrated
Mild
•
•
•
•
•
Pre-employment training is
possible
Verbal instruction &
demonstration
Simple language
Greater time to learn
Use of naturally occurring praise
and re-inforcement through:
– Supervisors, work-mates
– Ordinary pay incentives
•
•
•
Managing work pressure/
productivity demands
Shaping social contact through
co-workers
Qualifications for job and career
development
Stephen Beyer, Cardiff University 2011
What works in finding jobs?
Severe
Moderate
Greater use of support to find & plan
Families
Job coaches
Extended Vocational Profiling/
Discovery
20+ hours in various environs?
Interests and what good at
Relevant experiences
Work types and environments
Days and schedules
Welfare benefit planning
Use of practical job tryouts to aid
decision-making
Aided CV and support planning
Proactive and specific job finding and
matching jobs to people
Employer presentation and
negotiation
Adaptation of interview and induction
Mild
Greater independent action
More use of generic help to
identifying strengths,
interests and experience
Use of more generic sources
for vacancies
Greater use of courses, “job
clubs”
CV development
Job search
Writing applications
More use of mainstream job
application & interviewing
and induction processes
Stephen Beyer, Cardiff University 2011
Why isn’t it happening?
• Little investment in Supported
Employment since the 80’s
• Much more investment in sheltered
work than in community jobs
• Belief that people with severe learning
disabilities could not work
• Too much emphasis on preparation for
work rather than work itself
• A workforce that is not well trained and
lacks confidence
Occupational standards
Supported Employment: Invitation to comment on the
new Occupational Standards
The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) is
developing new National Occupational Standards (NOS)
which describe what a person needs to do, know and
understand in their job to carry out their role in a consistent
and competent way.
Deadline for comments is 2 March 2012.
All the information and downloads you need to comment on
the draft standards is available on the Excellence
Gateway:
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=320143