The government has announced a raft of employment reforms today, backed by an investment of £240 million, that includes an independent review into how employers can be better supported to employ people with disabilities.
There will also be a new Youth Guarantee and a £40 million Growth and Skills Levy so every young person has access to education or training to help them find a job, which should help young people with a learning disability and autistic people develop skills and have more opportunities to work.
The Get Britain Working White Paper aims to target and tackle the root causes of unemployment and inactivity, and better join up health skills and employment support based on the unique needs of local communities.
Currently, one and a half million people are unemployed, over nine million people are inactive, a record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness. In addition, one in eight young people are not in education, employment or training, and nine million adults lack the essential skills they need to get on in work.
The Secretary of State, Liz Kendall MP said: “To get Britain growing, we need to get Britain working again. Our reforms will break down barriers to opportunity, help people to get into work and on at work, allow local leaders to boost jobs and growth, and give our children and young people the best opportunities to get on in life.
“The Get Britain Working White Paper shows that this Government stands unashamedly for work. We will make sure everyone, regardless of their background, age, ethnicity, health, disability or postcode can benefit from the dignity and purpose work can bring. We can build a healthier, wealthier nation – driving up employment and opportunity, skills and productivity – while driving down the benefit bill.”
Mencap welcomed the proposed changes and said that they were a positive step towards supporting people with a learning disability into work.
Jon Sparkes OBE, Chief Executive of learning disability, added: “Mencap research shows that 86% of people with a learning disability who are not in work would like a job, and changes such as the Government’s proposed integration of Job Centre Plus and National Career Service could help tens of thousands of people with a learning disability into employment.
“The biggest barrier to working people with a learning disability face is the benefits system, following years of cuts and the stressful process of reassessment and recalculation. Building back confidence will take time, which is why the Government needs to take bold action and ensure people with a learning disability can engage in work without the threat of sanctions or losing their financial security.”
The reforms also expand mental health support, with extra capacity deployed to reduce waiting lists in areas with the highest levels of inactivity. This includes an additional 8,500 new mental health staff and better access to Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for severe mental illness, reaching 140,000 more people by 2028/29.
The Jobcentre system will also be transformed into a new national jobs and careers service, focused on people’s skills and careers instead of just monitoring and managing benefit claims. Mayors and councils will be empowered to combine local work, health, and skills support in ways that meet the specific needs of their local areas.
Jobcentre staff will also have more flexibility to offer a more personalised service to jobseekers, moving away from the ‘tick box’ culture. New coaching academies will also be set up to upskill job centre staff and better support people into work.
New measures will also be introduced to overhaul the health and disability benefits system so it better supports people’s entry and retention in work and tackles the growing benefits bill. A consultation will be published in Spring as part of a commitment to put the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of any policy changes that directly affect them.
One major aim is a greater focus on prevention to stop people from becoming ill in the first place. A quarter of all people aged 16-64 have a long-term health condition that limits their day-to-day activities with disabled people nearly three times more likely (than non-disabled people) to be economically inactive.
The government is providing an additional £22.6 billion of resource spending in 2025-26 for the Department of Health and Social Care. This will support the NHS in England to deliver an additional 40,000 elective appointments a week and make progress towards the commitment that patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment
Some £55 million will also be spent on bringing DWP services online to make them easier to access and deliver tailored support, including CV advice and job adverts. This builds on work already underway to give work coaches AI tools so they can find the right information for their customers faster.
The government will also provide £115 million in funding next year to enable local areas across England and Wales to deliver a new supported employment programme called Connect to Work scheme.
Connect to Work provides voluntary employment offers to people with disabilities, health conditions or complex barriers to work and will support up to 100,000 people a year at full roll out as the first tranche of money from a new Get Britain Working Fund.
A review will also consider what more can be done to enable employers to increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people and those with a health condition and undertake early intervention for sickness absence and increase returns to work.
Ambitious about Autism welcomed the guarantee that every young person aged 18-21 can access education or training to help them find a job. It said that when autistic young people have a chance to show employers their skills in action – for example through internship programmes – recruiters and managers soon wake up to the potential of the autistic workforce they have been missing out on.
Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive, added: “We share the Government’s aspirations to get more autistic young people in to work. With only a third of autistic people in work we need a radical step change to end this bitter cycle of unemployment.
“The majority of autistic young people want to work but face many avoidable barriers when job hunting. Young people tell us they feel conflicted about whether to disclose that they are autistic during the recruitment process for fear of discrimination. We also know there is strong evidence that the longer people are out of work, the harder it is for them to gain and maintain employment.”
The National Autistic Society said that they hoped the reforms would close the unacceptable autism employment gap as most autistic people can and want to work but face multiple barriers in finding and progressing in employment.
Mel Merritt, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the National Autistic Society, said: “Only 30% of autistic people are in work, the lowest of any disability. This shouldn’t be the case.
“While the overhaul of the disability benefits system is long overdue, there is a culture of blame and anxiety around work and benefits for many autistic and disabled people, and it is important that their voices are heard throughout this process.
“Autistic people face barriers to employment including poor autism understanding, discrimination and a lack of adjustments. Unless the Government acts to lift those barriers, then autistic people will not be able to engage fully with the Government’s support offer and may be at risk of being unfairly punished.”
