Task force formed to help people with disabilities find work

A task force has been formed to help people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions to find employment.

Government proposals call for one million people to be moved off Incapacity Benefit and into work over the next five years.

This provides a major challenge to charities, job brokers and other groups working with disabled people. But according to specialist employer Remploy, for hundreds of thousands of people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions the move into work is even more daunting. In the UK, Remploy estimates that the unemployment rate is around 90% among the 700,000 people of working age in England who have mild to moderate learning disabilities.

In addition to the formation of a Task Force, Remploy is calling for a national strategy to assist these groups. However, the Task Force is planning to run pilot schemes of innovative programmes to assist these groups. It is hoped that when proven the programmes will be rolled out nationally, significantly increasing the numbers of people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions who can be supported into employment.

The Chief Executive of the pan-disability charity body RADAR, Kate Nash, said: “These are people who face the biggest difficulties in finding work and they need all the help and support we can give them. They should not be written off by society.

“We are seeking guidance from a broad range of experience and knowledge in the disability charities, from those who have direct experience of working with these groups, sociologists, opinion formers, the trade unions and disabled people themselves."

Remploy, the country’s leading provider of jobs for disabled people, has committed itself to reducing the unemployment rate among these groups.

Remploy Chief Executive Bob Warner said: “We have the confidence to take on this challenge, because we have been employing disabled people in our factories for 60 years and last year placed 2,400 people, who face the greatest barriers to work, into mainstream employment.

The Chief Executive of the learning disability charity Mencap, Jo Williams, said: “We are already helping people with a learning disability to find 'real jobs’ in the mainstream. Individuals are gaining in confidence, feel valued and part of society, because their contribution to the economy and society in general is appreciated.

The Task Force will aim is to have the programmes ready for implementation by the end of the year.

(SP/MB)