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CHAPTER FIVE: PEOPLE IN SUPPORTED JOBS

INTRODUCTION

5.1 This chapter examines information from the questionnaire survey about people with learning disabilities and/or ASD supported in jobs (paid and unpaid) and about the types of job opportunities available. The survey was conducted to discover more about employment support providers, but also to explore the patterns of employment opportunity available to people with learning disabilities and/or ASD across Scotland, especially the extent to which jobs were unpaid or paid, and whether they were full or part time.

OVERALL PICTURE

5.2 Underlying the research aim was an assumption that services kept records about the people they supported according to disability categories, but this assumption was flawed. For instance, one project completed the questionnaire in relation to their service and was clearly engaged in innovative work but did not keep "impairment records". Although it was supporting 23 disabled people in employment, it could not provide any detailed information about how many were people with learning disabilities and/or ASD. From other comments received, we know that other projects/services did not return the questionnaire on account of not keeping such information. The information obtained will therefore be an underestimate of the true picture, but it is unclear to what extent this is the case.

5.3 Respondents were asked to provide a figure for the total number of people they currently supported in employment, and to specify how many of these were people with learning disabilities, people with learning disabilities and autism, people with ASD only, and people with Aspergers Syndrome. The survey identified 3,024 adults with learning disabilities and/or ASD as receiving employment support from 69 employment support providers. This is likely to be an underestimate given that it corresponds to figures aggregated from 41% of relevant organisations.

5.4 Table 5.1 below shows that 6 out of 10 people receiving employment support (not necessarily in jobs) from these agencies were people with learning disabilities and/or ASD. It also shows that only a minority of those supported in employment were people with ASD, and further that this was more likely to be people with Aspergers Syndrome. This was further confirmed by the experience of trying to specifically recruit people with autism rather than people with Aspergers Syndrome into the interview sample.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding up.

PEOPLE WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES

5.5 Around 28% of the 69 respondents were providing support to people deemed to have high support needs, that is people with 'multiple and profound learning disabilities', 'severe learning disabilities', or 'complex' or 'significant disabilities'. Most of these services were working with very small numbers of such individuals, usually under 10, while 7 stated they were working with between 13-50 individuals labelled as having severe or profound disabilities.

5.6 Around 7% of those supported in employment were identified as people with severe disabilities. While this is perhaps higher than might have been expected given the findings of other recent research (Weston et al, 2002) examining the extent of 'supported employment' for people with higher support needs in the UK, it is still low considering people with severe disabilities were the original target group for 'supported employment'.

BALANCE BEWTEEN UNPAID & PAID JOBS

5.7 Out of 3,024 people with learning disabilities and/or ASD identified as receiving employment support at the time of the survey, the vast majority (78%) were being supported in work (both paid and unpaid jobs). Over 600 other individuals were at the initial stages of vocational profiling, or were being 'assessed' to establish their requirements, or they were looking for a suitable vacancy. Around 37% of those in work (both paid and unpaid) were currently receiving low level monitoring support only. This included infrequent contact with the employee or the employer and/or site visits.

5.8 The majority were in paid jobs: around 66% were in paid work supported by 54 services. This compares with 46 services supporting 817 individuals in unpaid or voluntary work. However, as will be explored below, as much as half of those in paid jobs were working part-time or under 16 hours each week, a third of which were working less than 10 hours for permitted work allowances.

5.9 For the majority, being supported in unpaid jobs meant engaging in voluntary work or working unpaid for private companies for more than 12 weeks. However, as can be seen in the table below, significant numbers were also in short-term unpaid work placements. One local authority respondent identified 300 individuals in unpaid or voluntary work but did not provide any further information so it is not known whether these were voluntary work, unpaid work, work placements and so on.

5.10 There was variation between employment support providers, firstly in whether they supported unpaid jobs at all, and second, in the extent to which they supported unpaid jobs. For instance, 8 respondents only supported people in paid jobs and others only supported people in unpaid or voluntary work. Yet other services supported both, whilst tending to favour supporting either paid or unpaid jobs and would have more in one category than the other. Further, not all respondents provided comprehensive information on all of the individuals they supported in unpaid jobs and so in many tables, we have only been able to provide information on about 60% of those supported in unpaid positions.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding

5.11 In the paragraphs below we will look more closely at the characteristics of the individuals supported and the jobs they were in, making comparisons where relevant between those in unpaid and paid jobs. While respondents gave full information for some questions, this was not the case for others, and some provided very limited information. Where there is missing information, this is shown in the figure for total responses.

PROFILE OF INDIVIDUALS SUPPORTED IN JOBS

Gender & age

5.12 While people with learning disabilities and/or ASD in paid jobs were most likely to be male (63% were men and 37% were women), there were similar numbers of men and women in unpaid jobs (53% were men and 47% were women).

5.13 The table below summarises the age distribution of those supported in jobs. Just over half of those supported in unpaid and voluntary work were aged between 25-49 years, with only 5% aged under18 years. A fifth of people in unpaid jobs were aged over 50 years. A higher proportion of those in paid jobs were aged 25-49 years: around 69% of those identified by the sample organisations as being in paid jobs were in this age range compared to 52% of those in unpaid jobs.

5.14 The percentage of individuals aged under-25 years was marginally less for those in paid compared to unpaid or voluntary work. Similarly there were fewer people in the older age groups, that is 50 years and over, in paid jobs in comparison with unpaid positions.

Ethnic origin

5.15 The ethnic origin of the majority of people supported in unpaid work was described as 'White'. Respondents identified one person in unpaid work as Indian, 2 as Pakistani and one as from another ethnic group. A significant minority (around 2%) of those supported in paid jobs were from Black and Asian communities. The survey found 21 individuals of Bangladeshi origin being supported in paid jobs, 3 Chinese, 2 Pakistani, 1 Indian, 1 Black Caribbean, and 1 Black 'other'. A further 11 people in paid jobs were from 'other' minority ethnic backgrounds such as White South African.

5.16 Employment support services based in either Edinburgh or Glasgow were most commonly, although not exclusively, found to be working with individuals from minority ethnic communities.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPPORTED JOBS

5.17 In terms of unpaid or voluntary work, a variety of what the Americans term 'entry level' type jobs were being supported. Among supported unpaid jobs were care assistants in local authorities and private nursing homes; cleaning jobs in different settings; voluntary work in charity shops; shelf stackers in supermarkets, warehouse and shop assistants; labouring jobs in kennels, stables and garages; janitorial and caretaker jobs in community centres; waitresses and kitchen porters in hotels and cafes; and sound technicians and production assistants in the music industry.

5.18 A comparable profile of jobs was evident among supported paid jobs but there was a broader range of positions taking place in a greater variety of workplaces. Similarly, many of the jobs were also in retail settings (shops, supermarkets, warehouses etc), catering establishments and hotels, but they were also in cinemas, housing associations, theatres, insurance companies, farms and libraries to mention just a few.

5.19 Typically paid supported jobs included jobs such as supermarket trolley assistant, car park attendant, bakery assistant, salesperson, store assistant, grocery assistant, kitchen porter/assistant, labourers, cleaning or domestic assistant, housemaid, hotel receptionist, bar/glass collector, leisure attendant, and bingo assistant. There were paid jobs in factory workshops as skilled operatives, as well as in restaurants and cafes run by specialist agencies such as Quarriers or Garvald. Some had paid jobs in office administration, gardening and landscaping, environment-related and recycling firms.

5.20 Those working with people with ASD were supporting people in engineering apprenticeships, in jobs such as a computer aided design or CAD operator, web designer, and financial and administrative positions with national utility companies and local authorities. Small co-operatives had been set up providing domestic and garden-tidy services to customers in the community. A few were supporting people in jobs as drivers of community vehicles, as tutors in adult literacy groups, bookkeepers, dog walkers, and as lifeguards.

5.21 Using an adapted standard industrial classification showed that the jobs market for people in unpaid jobs was predominantly in the not-for-profit or charitable sector as well as in 'Distribution', which includes hotel, catering and retail industries (see Table 5.4 below). There were also several unpaid positions in the Public Sector including local authority care homes and teas-on-wheels services. Few unpaid positions were in Manufacturing, Construction and other types of industry. Apart from care assistants in private nursing homes, none of the jobs identified were specifically in the health services. 'Other' types of company that respondents could not easily fit into the designated categories were jobs in hairdressing, a private gym, and in the newspaper industry.

5.22 A slightly different pattern emerged for those in paid jobs in terms of the sector or types of company they were employed in. While they tended also to be in the Distribution industry, a significant minority were also working in the Public Sector, 'Other' industries (not listed), Manufacturing and the Charitable or Non-profit sector. As found in other research, there was an under-representation of paid jobs in industries such as Financial and Banking, Transport and Telecommunications, Construction and to a lesser extent, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing. The wider variety found might be an indication of a more person centred approach being adopted by those agencies developing paid job opportunities.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding

Hours worked

5.23 Table 5.5 below summarises hours per week worked in both unpaid and paid jobs across the sample.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding

5.24 The vast majority of unpaid or voluntary employment was in part-time positions of under 10 hours per week with over a third of these being for 4 or fewer hours each week. Around 75% of individuals in unpaid or voluntary work were working under 10 hours per week and so it should not be surprising that 34% of people with learning disabilities and/or ASD in these jobs also continued to use day centres for part of the week.

5.25 Exactly half of those supported in paid jobs were in full time positions of 16 hours or more, with the largest percentage being in jobs of 25 or more hours per week. The other 50% of paid jobs were part-time with over a third (36%) being jobs for less than 9 hours per week. As the literature review highlighted, the high proportion of part-time jobs has implications for the outcomes from employment especially social integration as well as for wage levels. It also indicates that few agencies were working within an internationally agreed definition of 'supported employment'. Interestingly, the proportion of individuals in jobs over 16 hours was roughly equal to that found by Beyer et al (1996) in surveying 'supported employment' agencies when the UK.

5.26 There was variability between providers in terms of the pattern of part and full time opportunities they supported. Over half of respondents did not support anyone in jobs of 16 hours or more. Of those that did support people in full time jobs, the greatest proportion supported people in jobs of 25+ hours per week, which included paid jobs in sheltered employment settings and jobs under the Workstep Programme.

Length of time in jobs

5.27 Generally, unpaid and voluntary work positions were for relatively short periods of time whereas paid jobs were better established. Three out of 5 of those in unpaid jobs or voluntary work had been in these jobs for less than 12 months and 1 in 5 for fewer than 3 months. However, a significant minority (14%) had been in unpaid or voluntary work for at least 4 years.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding

5.28 Over a third of paid jobs had lasted 4 years or more, and 3 out of 5 had lasted over 2 years. In contrast to other research, under a quarter of those supported in paid jobs had started within the past year. It is not obvious why this should be the case. However, it might be indicative of the time taken to establish real paid jobs. Further, it does suggest that employment support services were often concentrating their limited resources on maintaining existing employees in jobs and perhaps spending less time on setting up new placements.

Wage or salary levels in paid jobs

5.29 Respondents were asked to indicate whether jobs they supported were paid at the national minimum wage or below and, if known, what level of weekly wages were received by people with learning disabilities and/or ASD. Table 5.7 below summarises the information obtained. Many respondents did not provide any or much information in response to these questions. Information was provided regarding minimum wage levels in respect of 56% of paid job opportunities, and only in relation to 28% of paid jobs was there any information volunteered about weekly wages.

*Does not sum 100% due to rounding

5.30 The information above in relation to over half of paid job opportunities, finds the vast majority of jobs were paid at the level of the national minimum wage or above, while around a fifth were not. When it is acknowledged that 50% of paid jobs were for less than 16 hours per week, this result is less impressive. Although the high proportion of jobs paid at national minimum level or above appears to be a positive finding, as the following quotation illustrates, the statistics mask what was a "grey area" in practice:

"The one area that is a bit grey is voluntary/permitted earnings. I know the government explanation is being paid the hourly rate for the job. Everyone we have in voluntary placement gets disregarded earnings but often commit more time than the £20 per week. This is their own choice." (Local authority 'supported employment' provider)

5.31 Some of those in jobs for 16 hours or more were receiving wages below the national minimum wage. What is more, nearly half of those in jobs of 5-9 hours and 37% of those in jobs of 10-15 hours were being paid below the national minimum wage level. This illustrates the diversity in the job opportunities supported for people with learning disabilities and/or ASD and that different financial outcomes were experienced from employment.

5.32 Bearing in mind the low response rate to this question, the findings indicate that the average weekly wage in paid jobs tends to be low, and suggests that 'permitted work' levels were commonly used. Other research has similarly found that many of those who found a job received only modest earnings (Corden, 1997). Around 43% were paid less than £50 per week. Obviously at such low rates of pay, having a job will not have the desired impact on individuals' financial independence and it is likely that many individuals would not have been much, or indeed any, better off as a result of being in a job. This is in marked contrast to the case studies presented in Appendix 1 and the individual stories discussed in the next chapter. It would therefore seem that securing jobs with higher rates of pay and for more hours clearly remain key issues for employment support providers.

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

• The majority of those supported in employment were people with learning disabilities
• Around 7% were people with severe or profound learning disabilities
• Only 4% of those receiving employment support were people with ASD
• While people with learning disabilities and/or ASD in paid jobs were most likely to be male (63% were men and 37% were women), there were similar numbers of men and women in unpaid jobs (53% were men and 47% were women).
• The majority of those in jobs (both paid and unpaid) were in the age range 25-49 years
• Few of those in unpaid jobs were from minority ethnic communities
• However, a significant minority of those in paid work came from Black and Asian communities
• The survey identified 3,024 individuals with learning disabilities and/or ASD to be supported in employment, and the majority were in paid jobs - i.e. 66% were paid jobs
• Exactly half of all paid jobs were full-time (at least 16 hours per week) and just over a third (36%) were under 9 hours per week
• This would indicate that few employment support providers were working within an internationally agreed definition of 'supported employment'
• A high proportion of full-time paid positions were for 25+ hours per week, including jobs in sheltered factory settings and those managed under the Workstep programme
• Around 81% of those in paid jobs were receiving the national minimum wage. However, several individuals were working more hours than they were paid for
• Some of those in jobs for 16 hours or more were receiving wages below the national minimum wage levels
• Nearly half of those in jobs of 5-9 hours and 37% of those in jobs of 10-15 hours were being paid at rates below the national minimum wage level
• Rates of pay in general were low across the sample: 43% were earning less than £50 per week but there were notable exceptions - see Appendix 1
• Unpaid jobs mainly meant working in the traditional voluntary sector, but some were with local private employers
• In general, unpaid jobs were short-term placements, although a significant minority (14%) had lasted over 4 years demonstrating that unpaid placements do not always lead onto real paid jobs
• People in paid jobs had been in these jobs generally for longer than those in unpaid jobs
• It would seem that securing jobs with higher rates of pay and for more hours clearly remains a key issue.
• Supported jobs tended to be in a restricted range of industries, predominantly the service or distribution industry, although there was more variety among paid jobs

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