Ann McGuire MP

HELPING DISABLED PEOPLE INTO WORK

The employment rate of disabled people has risen twice as much as for the population as a whole, reports Anne McGuire MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions.

Today there are more disabled people in employment than ever before. Indeed, since 1997 the employment rate of disabled people has risen twice as much as for the population as a whole.

This is a great achievement and shows that the investment made by this government in employment programmes and services such as Jobcentre Plus, the New Deal and Pathways to Work has really made a difference.

By providing disabled people with the support they need to get a job, we have helped many of them improve their lives.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has helped break down the barriers that have kept many disabled people out of work in the past. This government has repeatedly strengthened the law, delivering the biggest extension of disability civil rights this country has ever seen.

It is unlawful for an employer to treat someone less favourably because of their disability, unless that treatment can be justified. By law, employers must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues. This duty also applies to the recruitment process itself, so employers might need to consider alternative ways of accepting a job application.

Yet it’s important to note that there is nothing in the DDA preventing an employer from taking on the best candidate for a job. When considering whether a disabled person might be best for the job, employers must take into account how they would be able to perform the job if reasonable adjustments were made.

There is strong evidence this legislation is working — people are using disability discrimination laws. Since 2003, more than 15,000 disability-related claims have been registered with employment tribunals, and compensation awards of up to almost £140,000 were made to successful claimants during 2005/06.

Many businesses have found that meeting their duties under the DDA has been possible with some simple and low-cost adjustments. For example, allowing time off for disability-related medical appointments, allowing some flexibility in working hours or duties or purchasing equipment like an adapted computer keyboard or mouse.

And from December 2006 the DDA was extended once again to require public authorities, such as hospitals, schools and local councils, to promote equality for disabled people. The Disability Equality Duty has taken the DDA a step further by requiring public bodies to make sure they include and consult disabled people when they design their services, rather than considering their needs as an afterthought. We are doing all we can to make sure people know about the DDA.

For the last three years, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been running campaigns to raise awareness of the DDA among small to medium-sized businesses and to encourage them to be more accessible to disabled customers and employees. This has been a huge success — awareness of the DDA among small businesses has increased, with many taking steps to make reasonable adjustments.

Support is available to cover any extra employment costs resulting from an employee’s disability. Our Access to Work scheme offers advice and practical support to disabled people and their employers to help them overcome work-related obstacles they face.

This specialist disability programme, delivered by Jobcentre Plus, offers grants towards the cost of providing support, for example, by helping to pay for any special equipment a disabled person may need to function in the workplace. Since the scheme began in 1994, more than 120,000 people have benefited from more than £400mn of grants.

There’s no doubt in my mind that work is not only the best route out of poverty, but that it is good for health and well-being too. Research published by the DWP in 2006 showed that being out of work is bad for both mind and body — progressively damaging health and decreasing life expectancy.

That’s why here, at the DWP, we are striving to ensure that our employment services are as good as they can be — for everyone — including the many disabled people who can and want to work.

We have helped 370,000 disabled people find work since 1997 and through the national minimum wage and tax credits we are doing more than ever to ensure that work pays. Coupled with our investment in Jobcentre Plus and the New Deal, this has meant the employment rate of disabled people has risen twice as much as for the population as a whole.

While this progress is encouraging, we still have a long way to go before disabled people have the same opportunities to secure a job and stay in work as non-disabled people. That’s why we will continue to reform the welfare system, develop stronger disability rights, create healthier workplaces, work more closely with employers and improve the effectiveness of the support we provide to help disabled people get a job and make a success of it.

Many disabled people put a great deal of energy into trying to find work or progressing within a job, and we want to help them get more positive and fulfilling outcomes.

We also want to give disabled people better access to our high-quality non-specialist services as well as specialist ones. We wouldn’t automatically assume that because a customer is disabled they require specialist support.

Later this year, we plan to set out our vision of improved employment support services for disabled people.

We will be welcoming your views on our proposals to do even more to help disabled people find and retain appropriate employment.

Biography of Anne McGuire MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions

Anne McGuire was elected to the House of Commons in May 1997. From November 1997 to July 1998, Anne was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland. In July 1998, she became an Assistant Government Whip and was appointed a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury in June 2001. In June 2002, Anne became Parliamentary Under-Secretary at The Scotland Office. Following the Scotland Office's incorporation in the new Department of Constitutional Affairs, Anne was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in that department with responsibility for Scotland. In the reshuffle after the 2005 General Election Anne was moved to the Department for Work and Pensions as the Minister for Disabled People.