Task force launched to help disabled workers

A new task force has been launched to help assist people with learning disabilities and mental health conditions into employment.

Remploy, a leading provider of jobs for disabled people, together with pan-disability charity body RADAR and learning disability charity, Mencap, formed the task force to plan pilots of programmes to assist those groups into work.

If the pilot projects prove successful, the programmes will be rolled out nationally.

It is hoped that the programmes will be ready for implementation by the end of the year.

The initiative is part of a government drive to move one million people off incapacity benefit and into work over the next five years.

There is an estimated unemployment rate of 90% among the 700,000 people of working age in England who have mild to moderate learning disabilities.

Kate Nash, Chief Executive of RADAR 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.”

Bob Warner, Remploy Chief Executive, 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.

“Remploy is adapting to the changing employment environment and aspirations of disabled people and we are reviewing all our operations to see how we can offer more support to these groups.”

Jo Williams, Chief Executive of Mencap, 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.”

(KMcA/SP)