Employer’s Forum on Disability supports Remploy’s factory closures
18th May 2007
Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD) welcomes the news that Remploy plans to significantly increase the number of disabled people into mainstream employment over the next five years, and that the reductions in its workshops will be achieved without compulsory redundancies for disabled employees.
Susan Scott-Parker, Chief Executive of EFD says: "This signifies a dramatic step towards achieving the economic and social inclusion of disabled people. Whenever a transformation of this kind is proposed there will always be anxiety.
"Disabled people's expectations are changing and we have to work together to make this change happen. It is Remploy's job and ours to work with disabled people wishing to realise their full potential."
Scott-Parker added: "Private sector experience in supply chain management tells us that by systematically making it easier for employers to recruit more disabled people, we can streamline the supply chain, reduce waste, cut costs and deliver a more equitable labour market."
EFD and Remploy are developing a structured and cost-effective approach to recruiting disabled employees that focuses on serving the needs of the employer and the disabled person.
Ends
Notes to editors
About Remploy
Remploy is the UK's leading provider of employment services for disabled people. Last year it supported in work or into work over 10,000 people with a range of physical, sensory and mental disabilities.
The company partners with some of the country's biggest companies to find jobs for disabled people, including BT, Asda, Christian Salvesen, Tesco and B&Q.
The company employs over 5,000 disabled people in its own manufacturing and services businesses and last year its employment services division found 5,200 jobs for disabled people in mainstream employment.
Remploy is a non-departmental public body and last year received a government grant of £119m.
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.