Incapacity benefit reforms risk failure
27th January 2006
Incapacity benefit reforms will fail if we don't make it easier for employers to say yes
Government plans to get one million disabled people into work are welcomed by Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD). However, the incapacity benefit reforms ignore the fact thatonly employers have the jobs and ultimately the success of the reforms will depend on theextent to which employers say ‘yes, I can and will employ this person’.
EFD chief executive, Susan Scott-Parker said:
“How can one million people return to work if the employer is not factored into theplan? We need to help disabled people to find the right jobs and help employers to find theright people. The government must understand that you can't get people into jobs unless theneeds and expectations of employers are met.
“All evidence suggests that by equipping employers to recruit disabled people, wecould streamline the system, reduce waste, cut costs and deliver a more equitable labourmarket. A huge improvement would be seen at reasonable cost if the employer was simplypositioned as a valued ‘customer’ by government, the voluntary sector andemployment services.”
Scott-Parker went on to say:
“Historically the system has been designed more to ‘push’ disabled peopleat the world of work generally, rather than to help employers ‘pull’ disabledapplications towards particular jobs.
“In order for the Government to achieve its aim of increasing the number of disabledpeople in work, it must also develop an employer engagement strategy which facilitates theprocess employers, intermediaries and disabled people go through, as people move intowork.”
Employers' Forum on Disability, with nearly 400 private and public sector members hasbeen working to make it easier for business to employ disabled people, serve disabled customersand work in partnership with disabled people for over 15 years.
Targeted recruitment schemes such as EFD's ‘Recruitment that works’approach, link employers, intermediaries and job seekers systematically to ‘pull’disabled people to apply for particular jobs, have been shown to have real potential to bringmore disadvantaged into work.
Ends
Notes to editors
A better ‘push-pull’ balance is needed
- Employer engagement obliges the system to position the employer so that they are valued, and supported, as an essential part of the supply chain. ‘Upstream’ success in any supply chain is determined by its ability to meet the needs of the ‘downstream’ user or customer. Successful work placement systems achieve an optimum, and flexible balance of push and pull.
- Push and pull stands for the forces in any supply chain which need to be properly balanced so that actions which push people at employment generally - such as vocational training, CV preparation, improving motivation, are balanced by actions which pull particular applicants to particular employers - such as job matching, and attracting a wider pool of candidates for particular and specific jobs.
- We need a policy framework that supports 'intermediaries/suppliers' to deliver more disabled and other disadvantaged people into existing jobs by enabling the 'end user' of that supply chain, the employer - to pull more disabled people more efficiently into particular jobs.
- A better push-pull balance is particularly crucial for those disadvantaged job seekers who when they are just pushed at employers generally, are 'knocked out' by barriers outside their control, such as low expectations, inaccessible transport or lack of disability expertise on the part of the employer or intermediary. 'Pull' usually requires employers to remove barriers in their system and facilitates a process which removes barriers outside the employer control such as lack of access to public transport.
Media enquiries, please contact:
Liz Nightingale, Communications Manager
Employers' Forum on Disability
Email: liz.nightingale@efd.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7403 3020
About Employers' Forum on Disability
Employers' Forum on Disability is the employers' organisation focused on disability as it affects employers and service providers. With over 400 members, EFD represents organisations that employ around 20 per cent of the UK workforce.Since its establishment in 1991, EFD has worked closely with government and other stakeholders, sharing best practice to make it easier to employ disabled people and serve disabled customers.