New report backs EFD’s experience that employers and disabled jobseekers need right support

29th June 2010

A report published today (June 30) by the UK Commission for Employment & Skills (UKCES) backs up EFD's experience that both employers and disabled jobseekers need appropriate support to make welfare-to-work programmes successful.

UKCES is a non-departmental public body that provides advice on skills and employment policy to the UK government and the devolved administrations. Its latest report, Tackling Exclusion, is a scoping study that looks into the employment and skills outcomes for people in or at risk of social exclusion.

Susan Scott-Parker, Chief Executive of Employers' Forum on Disability, said: "We have long been saying that any programmes for getting disabled people back into work will only be successful if they help people with a range of impairments, not just those closest to the labour market.

"Equally, we know from working with our members that the welfare-to-work programmes that work are the ones which are driven by the needs of employers.

"We welcome the findings of the UCKS report, which endorse our experience. Successful inclusion of disabled people is particularly pertinent when the coalition government has so recently announced its plans for welfare reform.

"For the employment rate of disabled people to increase significantly, employers need to be confident in recruiting people with a range of impairments, such as learning disabilities or mental health issues.

"Employers therefore need to be skilled in making the appropriate kinds of adjustments, and EFD provides them with expert advice on how to do this. After all, it is employers, not doctors or benefit advisors, who will decide whether or not to hire a disabled jobseeker."

Ends

Notes to editors

Media enquiries, please contact:

Brenda Otema, Communications & Marketing Officer
Employers' Forum on Disability
Email: brenda.otema@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 300 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.

www.efd.org.uk