The 2013 Welfare to Work Convention - Paul Wilson - Pluss Business Writer Last week I was at the Welfare to Work Convention in Manchester, presenting a workshop alongside Pluss’ own Jayne Mills and Gloucestershire County Council’s Vicky Walters. Wearing my ‘BASE’ hat, it was a chance to talk to delegates about some of the basics of supported employment as part of an introduction to Pluss’ personalisation offer. It felt timely to remind people about the challenges faced by people with a learning disability aspiring to work – of transferring learning from one context to another, of making sense of abstract ideas, of being ‘good enough’ on Day 1. It felt positive to explain how the supported employment Place & Train model is designed explicitly to meet these challenges, and how much international evidence is out there confirming that supported employment is a model that works. It also felt appropriate that this year’s convention - traditionally the annual set-piece for the welfare to work industry - was themed around disability. The convention came at a pivotal time in the evolution of the UK welfare to work industry. On the back of the recent report by the influential parliamentary Work and Pensions Committee Report which concluded that the Work Programme is not working for people furthest from the labour market, we now have three new reports entering the fray: Inclusion’s evaluation of Work Choice, Shaw Trust’s Making Work a Real Choice and Work in Progress produced by a consortium of five charities including Mind, Mencap and Scope. Each of these reports draw the same conclusion about the Work Programme, and amidst the sound and fury of frantic lobbying as the drafting of the Disability Employment Strategy gets under way, there is a feeling out there that a consensus is starting to build across the sector about some key strands of the debate. There is a clear need for a disability employment programme with sufficient resources to stand alongside the Work Programme to deliver a coherent response to a challenging labour market. The rationale for referral to the disability programme should be based on need. The disability programme should be delivered by specialists. Delivery needs to include supported employment and its mental health counterpart, Individual Placement and Support (IPS). Those furthest from the labour market must not be squeezed out in the allocation of resources to help people find and retain jobs. Employers, big and small, have a critical role to play, and providers must find ways of encouraging and supporting that increased role. Everything else, as they say, is up for grabs. But as the 2013 Welfare to Work Convention delegates make their way home, and the debate about welfare continues through a raft of other channels, let’s keep in mind the overriding goal we should stay focussed on - more people with disabilities in jobs and building careers. In a complex sector, we have a simple priority.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:10:33 +0000
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