department for work and pensions 1 developing the disability employment strategy jacqui hansbro and...

Department for Work and Pensions1

Developing the Disability Employment Strategy

Jacqui Hansbro and Lucy Brown

25 July 2013


Purpose of the session

To set out:

• The evidence about disabled people, employment and inactivity.

• The key themes for the Disability Employment Strategy.

• The process for developing the Disability Employment Strategy – and to seek your views


Employment rates gaps have been narrowing for disabled people, although a significant gap still remains...

46.3% of disabled people

are employed (3.2 million)

30.1 percentage point

employment rate gap

Employment rate time series

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Quarter

Per

cen

tag

e

DDA Disabled Not DDA disabledThe overall

‘disability deficit’ is currently

estimated at 23 percentage

points


…the story is less good for people who say their impairment limits the amount or type of work they can do…

1. The employment rate

gap between the DDA “work limiting”

group & non-disabled people is 43

percentage points

2. There has been an upward drift in the number of people saying they have an impairment. The statistics do not distinguish between disability, long term

illness or ageing, or between mild and severe impairments

Employment rate among the DDA disabled

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

not work(2.1

limitingmillion)

work(4.8

limitingmillion)

75% employed

33% employed

76% non-disabled rate


….and in particular for specific types of impairment.

People with mental health conditions

have an employment rate of

under 15%

For people with ‘depression or bad

nerves’ it is 33%. This group is around 1.5

times bigger than the ‘mental health’ group

under 35% 35% to 55% above 55%

under 0.25m

Learning difficultiesEpilepsySeeingHearing

Skin conditions, allergies

0.25m to 0.5m

Mental healthArms or hands

Progressive illnessDiabetes

Stomach, liver, kidney

over 0.5m DepressionLegs or feetBack or neck

HeartBreathing

Siz

e o

f gr

oup

Employment rate


Whilst the employment rate for older people has improved for both disabled and non-disabled people….

1. Employment rates for older people have gone up from 35% to 41% in ten years

2. During 2011, around 1.7 million over-50s gained an impairment

but stayed in employment – 55% more than in 2001

Age 16-24, excluding FT students

0%

• 20%

• 40%

• 60%

• 80%

'02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12

Non-disabled Disabled

Age 50 to 64

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

'02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12

Non-disabledDisabled


…young disabled people are faring much worse in the labour market, like their non-disabled peers, and they have much lower employment and education attainment rates.…

3. Those who are DDA disabled and aged 18-24 are far more likely to be NEET (42.1%) than their non-disabled counterparts(18.6%).

2. The employment rate gap between young disabled and non-disabled people widens to 27.8 percentage points at age 23, then 36.2 percentage points at age 24.

1. Employment rates for young disabled people have dropped from 46% in 2001 to 36% in 2012.

4. Disabled people are around half as likely as non-disabled people to hold a degree level qualification and nearly three times as likely not to have any qualifications.


Disabled people in employment work mostly in theprivate sector, in a wide variety of roles, but are still earning less….

• Most disabled people (73%) work in the private sector (compared with 77% of non-disabled people) with only 26% in the public sector.

• Disabled people are particularly under-represented in senior management or professional jobs.

• This gap is less wide in clerical jobs, nursing and caring, shop and sales work, and cleaning.

• Disabled people earn less than their non-disabled counterparts, with a mean hourly wage of £12.15 in 2012 against £13.25 for non-disabled people.


….and many people leave employment with minimal or no intervention, and fall quickly into inactivity.

• Every year 300,000 people fall out of work onto benefits, of whom nearly half do so without having a period of sick leave first.

• The most commonly mentioned enablers to remain in work were modified hours or days or reduced work hours.

modified hours 21%tax credits 11%changes to work area or equipment 10%modified duties 7%a job coach or assistant 5%building modifications 4%other equipment or services 3%

none of these 59%

Source: Life Opportunities Survey

What has helped employed people with impairment at work


And once disabled people fall into inactivity, they are very unlikely to move into employment…

Movements in and out of disability are more common, as people acquire or overcome an impairment, or in some

cases due to fluctuating conditions.

Movements into work are

rare. Each quarter only

1 in 100 disabled people

moves from inactivity into

work

There are 3.7million out of

work disabled people

Most stay inactive: 2 in 3

have not worked for 5+ years

Each quarter around 100k do

find work ...

... but are replaced by 100k disabled people who stop

working

And 350k no longer report a disability (1 in 3 rejoin the labour

market) ...

... but a similar number (mostly inactive already)

acquire a disability


The inactive disabled population is very diverse, with a variety of different barriers to work…

1.5m over-55sHave work history but acquired

impairment (typically vision

or mobility) after age 40.

Most consider themselves retired. Half

have no qualifications

0.4m under-25sLearning or behavioural difficulties common. Only 1 in

8 limited ‘a lot’ by their condition. 70% still in education

0.3m prime age unemployedAll actively seeking and available for work. Report lack of jobs as

main barrier

0.4m prime age with mental health conditions

Depression most common. Conditions often fluctuate.

Only 1 in 10 expect to work in next year

1.2m prime age inactiveImpairments often recently acquired, although 70% have not worked for

5+ years and only a third want a job. Up to 30% have A levels or degree


Key themes for the Disability Employment Strategy

• Engaging employers;

• Improving the employment support offer for disabled people (both mainstream and specialist);

• Developing a personalised local offer;

• Building social support (peer group, mentoring, job clubs)

• Support for those with mental health conditions;

• Young people’s transitions;

• Retention in work;

• In-work progression;

• Self-employment.


Our approach:

We are taking a three stage approach to developing the disability employment strategy:

Stage 1: engagement with Task & Finish Groups, stakeholders and disabled people.

Stage 2: begin engagement with employers leading up to and flowing from the July conference.

Stage 3: strategy published in the Autumn.


Discussion questions

Question 1

• Who needs specialist employment support? And how do we make sure we are referring the right people to this support?

Question 2

• What are the key elements of specialist employment support that we should include in our new offer?

Question 3

• How can we adapt mainstream provision (both JCP regime and Work Programme) so that it better meets the needs of disabled people?


Contact details

If you have any further thoughts or ideas for the Disability Employment Strategy please e-mail us at:

[email protected]

department for work and pensions 1 developing the disability employment strategy jacqui hansbro and...

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