Disabled people must be placed at the heart of employability reforms
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall attended Cabinet on Tuesday (Alamy)
3 min read
The government needs to include the voices of disabled people to shape and deliver much-needed reform of employability programmes across the UK.
Before becoming an MP, I spent a decade working in disability charities. A key factor in my decision to support the reasoned amendment to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments Bill was that I wanted to see far greater involvement of disabled people in the key decisions which will affect their future.
Many disabled people’s organisations remain concerned about the reduction in payments for new claimants of the health element of Universal Credit, even as the standard rate increases for all claimants. However, an important change secured in the amended Bill is the commitment to involve disabled people’s organisations in shaping future reforms.
This inclusion must go beyond PIP and the Timms Review and into the heart of reform of employability policy too.
There is currently no level playing field in employment for disabled people. In 2023/24 the ‘disability employment gap’ was 28.4 per cent, meaning there were 53.4 per cent disabled people in work compared to 81.8 per cent employment among non-disabled people.
Though the gap is five points lower than in 2012, this improvement is not the success story some in the previous government claimed. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) analysis shows that the main driver of this increase in disability employment was actually through rising disability prevalence among people already in work, estimated to account for 60 per cent of the increase.
We need better outcomes from employability programmes. Today, 3.7m people claim PIP, with 250,000 new claims in the past three months alone. It’s understandable ministers want to support more people into work and reduce reliance on health-related benefits.
The challenge is considerable: there are currently some 736,000 job vacancies in the UK, so it will require securing a substantial proportion of these vacancies for disabled people if ministers are to achieve their aims.
To their credit, ministers have backed their ambition with increased funding – boosting investment in employability programmes from £753m in 2023/24 to £1,149m in 2024/25. Deployed effectively, this could be transformative. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has outlined a new approach for Jobcentres, and schemes like Access to Work have shown real value in helping employers recruit and retain disabled workers.
In contrast, funding for employability programmes through private sector providers appears to have resulted in more limited outcomes. Eight private sector providers were awarded over £1bn to deliver the Restart Scheme supporting benefits claimants into work, but only 23 per cent of the people entering the scheme reached what the DWP defines as a ‘job outcome.’
There is clearly potential to refocus investment for better results. In my previous role working for Enable, Scotland’s largest disability charity, I saw first-hand what successful third sector partnerships can achieve. The charity’s employability arm, Enable Works, delivers 3.5 jobs for the average cost of one job by traditional employability programmes.
The charity’s “All In” partnerships operate in 14 local authorities across Scotland, bringing together values-driven, specialist organisations working with not only disabled people, but all people with barriers to work who need support. Their person-centred approach tailors support and draws on the expertise of organisations with deep, long-standing experience.
This model works and it’s scalable. Disability charities should not only be consulted in welfare reform reviews like the Timms Review but involved in shaping and delivering employability support nationwide.
If ministers do succeed in their ambition to transform employment opportunities for disabled people, the rewards would be a boost to our economy. But the greater prize would be in improving the lives and life chances of hundreds of thousands of disabled people across our country.
Richard Baker is Labour MP for Glenrothes and Mid Fife.
