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Supported Employment Programmes
13.28 One of the developments in recent years which has extended the opportunities for young people with learning disabilities and mental health problems is Supported Employment. There are a number of organisations that manage and deliver supported employment programmes but the main characteristics of Supported Employment are that it :
13.29 The Employment Service operates a supported employment programme that was originally designed to help people with learning disabilities to enter employment. The key elements are:
13.30 This basic concept of supported employment has been developed and expanded by a number of organisations to support people with a variety of needs, including people with physical disabilities, sensory impairment and mental health problems. Organisations include the INTO work project in Glasgow, the National Autistic Society, Enable, the Royal National Institute for the Blind Specialist Support for Sensory Impairments and Jobs 4 All, which is a pilot for the New Deal for Disabled people. Real Jobs in Edinburgh acts as a recruitment agency specialising in working with people who have learning disabilities. In many cases, clients are referred to them from Resource Centres and there are close links with Social Work. The Employment Disability Unit in Dundee, which is funded by Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross Councils, has piloted supported employment programmes for people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and vocational rehabilitation needs. The key elements of the programme, which is tailored to the particular client groups, are:
13.31 In supported employment programmes there is a team of support workers trained in Systematic Instruction (or similar techniques). The support worker goes into the workplace and learns the job, breaking it down into its key components. The support worker then uses systematic instruction to train the potential employee. The support worker will, if appropriate, accompany the individual into the workplace and offer support until the trainee is comfortable in the work environment and able to perform the work to an appropriate standard. Other aspects of the support worker's role included helping trainees in developing relationships with the other employees; and helping the other workers to understand both the needs of the disabled person and the abilities they bring to the job.
13.32 Where a person has physical disabilities or sensory impairment, a wide range of aids and equipment are available to adapt the workplace to meet their needs: a reader, support worker to help in the workplace or getting to work, or help with transport costs where public transport is unsuitable. The Disability Advisory Service (formally PACT) is operated by the Employment Service and is able to advise and assist with these and other forms of support.
13.33 There is evidence, however, that many employers do not know about the range of assistance available. Research conducted by the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research (Riddell et al 1997) shows that demand for places on supported employment programmes exceeds supply. On the other hand, most adults with learning disabilities felt they were able to sustain employment with appropriate support. There seems to be a clear and pressing need to raise awareness among employers of the contributions which young people with disabilities can make to the workforce and, more importantly, to "market" the range of support services which are available.
13.34 The Employment Service is about to launch a public consultation to review the supported employment programme with a view to increasing the programme's capacity to promote the integration of disabled people into open employment. They are also proposing to set up "fast track" projects to develop and test new approaches to enable supported employees to move into open employment.
13.35 We believe that there could be considerable benefits for young people with additional support needs in promoting the growth of supported employment. We particularly welcome the success of the Union of Supported Employment in winning the bid to hold the European "Supported Employment Conference" in Edinburgh in the year 2001. Scotland has succeeded in attracting this conference because it has a good reputation in the field of supported employment. The Conference could give a real platform for an expansion of supported employment catering for a wide range of support needs across Scotland.
Support for Employers
13.36 Young people who have learning disabilities, sensory impairment or physical disabilities can offer skills and qualities which are relevant to employment. It is vital that we encourage and support employers to look beyond the disability of the young person and to see the whole individual who in many cases will already have acquired skills and who will have the ability to learn new skills. Individual young people will also be able to offer a high level of commitment and reliability in a supportive work environment.
13.37 It has to be acknowledged, however, that there will be concerns among employers about the reactions of their other workers to recruitment of a disabled young person. There have been a number of projects throughout Scotland and England that have promoted the integration of disabled people into the labour market through the HORIZON strand of the European Social Fund EMPLOYMENT initiative. HORIZON has supported 66 projects in Great Britain during 1995-1997. The range of employers involved covered a wide spectrum and the range of activities included awareness raising events, provision of informal links and on-going advice and information services.
13.38 The most successful projects included:
13.39 What is particularly interesting in these findings is that, where the project team could demonstrate that young people had the skills required by the employers, or could provide customised training to fill a vacant post, the employers responded positively. There must be a lesson here for all the agencies that promote employment for disabled people. Employers want workers who can do the job. If a young person can offer that, other problems may be more readily overcome.
13.40 Other important aspects of the HORIZON projects were:
As well as individual contact between an employer and a project member, there were group events to bring together groups of employers to raise awareness and offer information about the support services available.
13.41 There were a number of lessons identified through the HORIZON projects:
Social Firms
13.42 There is another developing model of employment creation for disabled people which may have the potential to address a range of issues for young people who have additional support needs. This is the concept of a Social Firm.
13.43 A Social Firm is a business created for the employment of people with a disability or other disadvantage in the labour market. A significant number of the employees, but not all, will be people from this group. The business is set up to function within the market place, providing goods or services in the same way as any other business but it also has a social objective. Every worker is paid the market rate or salary appropriate to the work whatever their productive capacity. At the same time, social firms offer opportunities for training and development and foster mutual support among employees.
13.44 There has been a rapid development of social firms in Italy and Germany in recent years. In Italy, the Government's reorganisation of mutual health services led to the development of social co-operatives in the late 1970s. Government support has now enabled 2000 co-operatives to be set up, employing 16,000 disabled people and with a turnover of £500 million. In Germany, there are 250 social firms, employing 5500 people, 3100 of whom are disabled. The German approach to supporting social firms is rather different. The Government fines private sector employers who fail to employ a specified number of disabled people and redistributes the money to organisations which create employment in social firms.
13.45 In the UK, there are now 20 social firms. Interest is growing and there are an estimated 60 projects currently in development. In Scotland, the Edinburgh Community Trust runs 4 businesses in different economic sectors (tourist accommodation, catering, laundry services and clothing production) and employs 66 people with mental health problems on a full or part-time basis. Unity Enterprise operates social enterprises as commercial companies offering work experience within a semi-commercial environment to young people and adults with additional support needs. One of the enterprises is a travel agency managed by professionals in the travel trade and offering training towards recognised vocational qualifications for people who have disabilities, low basic skills or social or behavioural problems.
13.46 We believe that the concept of social firms offers a positive approach to creating employment opportunities for young people who would require additional support to obtain and sustain employment. Many of the social firms currently in existence employ people with physical or learning disabilities, sensory impairment or mental health problems. We believe that the concept could also have a positive impact on the young people who are disadvantaged in the labour market because of low attainment, poor motivation, social, emotional or behavioural problems. The flexibility of full or part-time employment, opportunities for training, the "real" nature of the job and the benefits of mixing with other employees from a range of backgrounds would address many of the factors which make the transition to employment so difficult for so many young people.
The Benefit System
13.47 The Committee is aware that many organisations and individuals have serious concerns about the effect of employment on entitlements to welfare benefits under current benefits regulations. If, for example, an individual on Independent Living Allowance takes up employment and subsequently loses the job, he/she cannot resume ILA. Adults with learning disabilities living in residential care and carrying with them substantial funding for their care providers in terms of "preserved rights" cannot enter employment beyond the "therapeutic earnings " rules even if they only require low levels of support. This limits their hours of work and their potential to earn. The whole area of benefits is complex. It is also currently under review. It has not been possible to address benefits issues in sufficient detail to make any proposals. We recognise, however, that the agencies to which we are addressing our recommendations will have to consider how to work with the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency to achieve the best possible outcome for the young people.
The Way Ahead
13.48 The challenge for the Scottish Executive, the enterprise networks, the Employment Service and the business community is how to promote more widespread availability of this kind of support; and how to "market" it to employers. Many employers may be sympathetic to recruiting disabled employees but have serious concerns that there would be disproportionate time and costs incurred for training and on-going support. There are studies which show that disabled employees are reliable, and perform well and that they have less sick leave than the "average" employee. The difficulty is getting this message across.
13.49 The model of supported employment, with all its various strands, would seem to offer one way ahead. However at the moment, both access and take-up are relatively low. This implies that if more young people were able to get access to supported employment programmes there would be a significant rise in costs. In order to quantify these costs, it might be appropriate to carry out a survey of existing provision and the potential numbers of young people who might be able to benefit from expanded provision. However, it is interesting to note the experience of the ECHO and PEP projects in North Lanarkshire, managed by the Social Work Department and supported by the Lanarkshire Development Agency. The cost of supporting people into employment is estimated to be less than the cost of maintaining an individual in a social support or health care environment.
13.50 We also believe that there is an opportunity for Scotland to forge ahead in the creation of social firms. We believe that they offer a unique mix of social and economic benefits not just to the people who have additional support needs but to the whole community. In every sense, a social firm offers a 'real' job. That is what so many young people want.
13.51 It is our view that action to promote the creation and development of more employment opportunities for young people at a disadvantage in the open labour market should be taken forward at the highest level. We, therefore recommend that the proposed National Action Group should establish an Employment Forum. The members should be drawn from Scottish Business in the Community, Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Directors, CBI, STUC, Small Business Federation, Scottish Further Education Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, COSLA, Employment Service, Benefits Agency, careers service companies and the voluntary sector. The Employment Forum should be charged with producing an action plan for increasing supported employment programmes and strategies for supporting the growth of social firms. As a first step, there should be a national survey of supported employment programmes to identify the best practice, looking at specific client groups and taking into account pilot projects which have been formally evaluated.
13.52 We also recommend that the Area Strategy Groups should work with employers and the local Employment Service and Benefits Agency to develop local arrangements for promoting and expanding supported employment programmes for young people.
Disaffected and Disadvantaged Young People
13.53 The principles and practices of supported employment and social firms - vocational profiles, assessment of skills and abilities, job matching, customised training, support worker service, financial incentives - would seem to be applicable to the needs of disaffected young people. We are aware, however, that employers may make a distinction in their attitude towards disabled young people and disaffected young people. They appear more willing to accept that disabled young people will be reliable, honest, well-motivated and willing to learn. There is clearly scepticism that disaffected young people would respond positively in the work environment, and that they may even be a disruptive influence.
13.54 The support needs of disaffected young people may be different in some respects from the needs of young people with learning disabilities or mental health problems. The support may have to be targeted towards confidence and motivation rather than learning the components of the job. Clearly, there would be costs attached to providing this kind of support. However, we have noted that the Treasury estimate of the cost of unemployment is £8,429 per person, per annum. We, therefore, recommend that the Employment Forum institutes a review of supported employment practices with a view to developing a model appropriate to young people whose problems arise from low educational attainment, lack of basic skills and poor motivation.
13.55 We have also considered another approach. We know that there are sympathetic employers who are willing to offer intensive support through job coaching, assistance with getting the young person to work and on-going confidence building. It may be possible to recruit some employers as "Champions" to share their experiences and highlight the benefits of making this kind of commitment. The National Training Organisations could play a part in developing this idea.
13.56 It may be more feasible to direct resources to towards work placements rather than direct entry into employment. A NTO could arrange a series of placements with committed employers who could form a mutual support network both for themselves and for the young people. This could become another form of mentoring. Mentoring could offer valuable support both to the employer and the young person. Employers could mentor young people and other employers. We also see value in peer group mentoring by young people who have come through the process and are in stable employment. Peer mentors could provide relevant support and a positive role model. The Make it Work mentoring project set up by Career Development Edinburgh and Lothians (CDEL), funded by the SOEID Challenge Fund, provided support for young people in the workplace. The target group included young people who had a history of job-hopping, and had low self-esteem and aspirations, a lack of motivation, attitudinal problems and poor work ethic. While the project highlighted problem areas e.g. the need for more access to the mentor, the overall evaluation showed a positive response from both young people and employers. SCONTO (The Scottish Organisation for National Training Organisations) could be asked to set up a "Champions" network to encourage and support this activity.
13.57 We, therefore recommend that NTOs should be asked to develop and promote the idea of employers as "Champions" of "disaffected" young people in the workplace. The Scottish Council of National Training Organisations should support and encourage this development by setting up a network and sharing good practice. This should include the idea of a mentoring network.
Summary of Recommendations
Employability
The Committee recommends that:
The assessment process should clearly identify the extent to which young people can demonstrate, and use, the 'core' skills and attributes (reliability, willingness to learn, enthusiasm, honesty) which are valued by employers. (Paragraph 13.21)
The enterprise networks in conjunction with training providers should review their pre-vocational and life skills programmes; and that the SFEFC in conjunction with colleges, should examine the nature and scope of this kind of learning in the FE sector. (Paragraph 13.22)
The Area Strategy Groups and Implementing Inclusiveness Teams should include employers. (Paragraph 13.24)
Employment
The proposed National Action Group should establish an Employment Forum. The members should be drawn from Scottish Business in the Community, Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Directors, CBI, STUC, Small Business Federation, Scottish Further Education Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, COSLA, Employment Service, Benefits Agency, careers service companies and the voluntary sector. The Employment Forum should be charged with producing an action plan for increasing supported employment programmes and strategies for supporting the growth of social firms. As a first step, there should be a national survey of supported employment programmes to draw together the best practice, looking at specific client groups as taking into account pilot projects which have been formally evaluated. (Paragraph 13.51)
The Area networks should work with employers and the local Employment Service and Benefits Agency to develop local arrangements for promoting and expanding supported employment programme for young people. (Paragraph 13.52)
The Employment Forum institute should a review of supported employment practices with a view to developing a model appropriate to young people whose problems arise from low educational attainment, lack of basic skills and poor motivation. (Paragraph 13.54)
NTOs should be asked to develop and promote the idea of employers as "Champions" of "disaffected" young people in the workplace. The Scottish Council of National Training Organisations should support and encourage this development by setting up a network and sharing good practice. This should include the idea of a mentoring network. (Paragraph 13.57)
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