Helping disabled people into work???

When the new Labour Government was elected 8 months ago little did anyone suspect or expect the intensification of the ‘War on Disabled People’ that not only matched the Tories but actually surpassed them.

Let’s start from Labour’s Mantra of wanting to get people into work, especially disabled people. What does this actually mean?

That’s a good question. So let’s look at it from the perspective of a disabled person/worker.

If you are genuinely wishing to support disabled people into work then what type of support would they be looking for?

1.     Increased support through Access to Work to include help for job seekers as well as those in work. This should include the following:

                                                    i.     Increased employer awareness of Access to Work so that they can encourage and support new employees to apply for it

                                                  ii.     Increase the awareness of disabled job seekers of Access to Work and the support available to them.

2.     Reasonable Adjustments need to be enforceable in a speedy and timely manner. I would suggest that the assessment for Reasonable Adjustments and the timetable for their implementation should be 4 weeks or 20 working days. At the moment if the employer does not implement the reasonable adjustments identified the only recourse for the disabled worker is to take the employer to an Employment Tribunal which invariably leads to the disabled worker losing their job because ‘the relationship of trust has broken down’. This is a totally unacceptable position to place a disabled worker, or indeed any worker, in.

3.     The continuation of in work benefits and other benefits to support disabled people and disabled workers whose costs are, on average, £1000 per month higher than for a non-disabled people and non-disabled workers.

4.     Accessible transport and especially public transport is essential for many disabled workers. Whilst writing this blog I arrived at Bristol Parkway Station to find that the lift was out of order. I was offered assistance with carrying my suitcase upstairs to the platform but what if I hadn’t been able to climb those stairs? What would have happened?

If you want to know about the horrors that disabled people face whilst travelling on public transport just follow Tanni Grey-Thompson on Twitter @Tanni_GT

To truly help disabled people who can work into work the Government need to make all forms of transport fully accessible. They also need to continue to provide support for disabled people and workers under the mobility scheme.

5.     Full and swift implementation of the Disability Employment Charter and the Disabled People’s Manifesto

6.     Full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

7.     Enhanced Employment Rights to incorporate all of the above into UK law along with other necessary support for disabled people and workers

8.     The Government need to halt the ‘War on Disabled People’. Many people in work will not self-identify as disabled because of the fear of being stigmatised and discriminated against.

9.     Disabled Bus Passes and Travel Cards should be useable 24 hours a day and not after 9.30am as is currently the case. Disabled workers need to get to and from work at all times of day and night.

10.  Hybrid and flexible working – Covid and especially the lockdowns clearly showed that many workers could do their job from home. During Covid I attended weekly online team meetings where I was repeatedly told that we were being more productive working from home than we had been in the office.

Let us say two things to CEO’s and Managing Directors who insist that people should not work from home:

                                                    i.     How often do you work from home? In our experience many CEOs, Directors and Senior Managers work from home when it suits them especially during school holidays

                                                  ii.     It is your job as a CEO or Senior Manager to ensure that your managers and team leaders are able to manage their staff effectively whether they work from home or in the office. If they fail to do that then that is Your failure and not their failure or the failure of workers whether they are disabled or non-disabled. You are responsible and need to accept that responsibility

Hybrid and/or flexible can be a Reasonable adjustment for some disabled workers but it is not a panacea or a solution for all disabled workers.

So let us now look at what the new Labour Government are doing to disabled people and disabled workers.

1.     Slashing disability benefits and other forms of support by a reported £6 billion. So the Government want disabled people to work but the new Labour Government want to make it more difficult for them to do so. This just doesn’t make sense!

2.     Possibly cutting Access to Work and trying to make employers, especially larger employers, to pay for it. You really think that this encourages employers to employ disabled workers?

3.     Disabled people and disabled workers did not even get a mention in the Employment Rights Bill – no enforcement powers for Reasonable Adjustments or a realistic time frame for employers to provide Reasonable Adjustments.

People can wait months and longer for Reasonable Adjustments and whilst they are waiting for them the employer may then try to manage them out of the organisation for not achieving their targets. They fail to achieve the targets because they do not have the Reasonable Adjustments they need. Totally unacceptable and discriminatory behaviour

Let’s get real, with an ageing population and an ageing workforce and the raising of the retirement age the number of disabled workers as a percentage of the workforce will grow.

Politicians and employers need to wake up and smell the coffee. Disabled people and disabled workers offer a huge reservoir of talent which is largely untapped. The opportunities for disabled workers and employers are huge.

Employers need to challenge their own attitudes and cast aside their prejudices to embrace and support disabled workers.

Having said that, we need to recognise that a significant number of disabled people will never be able to work, or at least not in the conventional sense. There is no point in trying to force these people into work because you will only drive them further into poverty