Supporting People with Disabilities
into Employment – the G4S Work
Programme
16th September 2012
John Newland, Customer Services and
Employer Liaison Manager
The Work Programme
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Flagship government programme to support people on benefits into
employment
For the first time people on Job Seekers Allowance (main UK
unemployment benefit) and Employment Support Allowance (main
benefit for people unable to work due to a health condition) are
supported on the same programme
‘Black box’ approach which allows providers to innovate in their
delivery
Long term payment by results programme which rewards providers
for supporting people into employment for 2 years
Differential payments according to benefit type
Launched in June 2011
Delivered by ‘Prime Contractors’ in 18 areas
Financial structure
The G4S Work Programme
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G4S deliver the Work Programme in 3 areas – the South East,
Manchester and Cheshire and North Yorkshire and the Humber
G4S adopt a pure ‘Prime Contractor’ model where we act as a
managing agent and manage local supply chains of Job
Brokers
We contract to 25 Job Brokers who deliver the end to end
service across the UK
Services are supported by a local Knowledge Bank of specialist
providers who deliver ad hoc services as required
Employment Support Allowance /
Incapacity Benefit
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Around 5 million people are on benefits in the UK, around half of
these are on the main health benefits – Employment Support
Allowance (ESA) and Incapacity Benefit (IB)
ESA replaced IB in 2008 – IB customers are being migrated to
ESA but there are still residual ‘stock’ IB customers
A small but significant % of IB and ESA customers are claiming
benefits due to a visual impairment
All new claimants of ESA are required to undertake a medical
test to examine their capability for work
Work Capability Assessment (WCA)
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Visually impaired claimants are tested on their ability to get
around out of doors independently and communicate with other
people e.g. being able to understand a simple message
regarding the location of a fire escape
The WCA assesses both hearing and sight, so points are
awarded if you can hear but not see the message
Claimants are either placed in the ‘Work Related Activity Group’
(WRAG) and assessed as fit to work or the ‘Support Group’ with
no requirement to work
If claimants are visually impaired but have no other disabilities
they are usually placed into the WRAG
Differential payments
Support for people who are visually
impaired
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JCP would notify Job Broker if a customer had a visual impairment. The
customer would not be precluded from anything.
Job Brokers have in-house ‘Condition Management’ services delivered by
Occupational Therapists who offer advice on what work clients can do with their
disability
Appointments are delivered flexibly – sometimes by phone or in person, at times
to suit the client and in private rooms (according to client preference), can also
go out to meet them in a convenient location.
Materials available in Braille and in a range of larger print sizes and forms
completed on the customer’s behalf
Specialist external support from Knowledge Bank providers such as Foresight,
RNIB and Action for Blind
Typical interventions include supported work placements (3-6 months) leading
to paid employment
Extra funding for work e.g. computer adaptations or a paid Support Worker is
available through Access to Work
Visually impaired people and the
Work Programme
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Less than 4% of G4S Work Programme clients have a visual
impairment (average 1.5 people out of a caseload of 50)
10% of these have entered employment or become self
employed
Not many customers with visual impairments have been
referred – largely due to issues with low levels of ESA referrals
from JCP
Self employment is not a common outcome due to lack of
Advisor knowledge (30% of advisors feel confident providing VI
support)
Visual impairment specialists tend to focus on paid employment
with supportive employers
If the customer has a severe visual impairment where they need
a guide dog or specialist equipment in day to day life for
example they would be referred to Work Choice
Low Referrals of customers
with a visual impairment
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Almost 90% of advisors said that
less than 10% of customers, often
only 1 or 2 people, had a visual
impairment
Some VI customers may be slipping
through the net
A lot of work still to do to get more
customers onto the Work
programme
Client case study
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One of our Work Programme customers at Remploy in
Manchester has a visual impairment whereby he is unable to
read unless the text is in a large font. His advisor used specialist
software called “Dolphin” in a well lit room. This meant he
received the same quality of service as any other customer
would. His advisor supported him with updating his CV, job
searching and interview techniques. A job arose at supportive
employer in the North west and the customer was put forward
for it. With the help of his advisor he prepared for the interview.
The employer was impressed and willing to make the
reasonable necessary adjustments to take the customer on.
The customer is now thoroughly enjoying his new job. He felt
that Remploy were very supportive about his disability and he
wouldn’t be where he is now without them.(Anonymous)
Self-employment for the visually
impaired: challenges & opportunities
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Self-employment is not a common outcome for the visually impaired on
the Work Programme
Neither core Work Programme Advisors or visual impairment specialist
Advisors are skilled in supporting customers in this area
However, there is an increasing focus on self-employment for the
visually impaired – e.g. specialist awareness and support training for
advisors
Employer’s attitude and support is key as discrimination is still
prevalent
Our research has shown that employers believe that if a person has a
visual impairment they won’t be able to do the job and this will impact
on other skills which is not the case
G4S W2W are developing a guide for advisors to increase employer’s
understanding of visual impairments and the reasonable adjustments
that can be made
Any questions?
John.newland@uk.g4s.com