More disabled parents will be helped into work following an additional £6 million aimed at reducing both the disability employment gap and child poverty.
With only around 40% of working age disabled adults in employment, compared with more than 80% of non-disabled adults, the new funding is part of an action plan outlining how this gap can be at least halved over the next 20 years. The plan sets an initial ambition to increase the employment rate of disabled people to 50% by 2023 then to 60% by 2030.
The action plan also includes:
- Up to £1 million to develop solutions to the barriers employers face in hiring and retaining disabled people
- Up to £500,000 to pilot the provision of support similar to Access to Work to disabled people undertaking work experience or work trials
- A new support service to help disabled people for who more mainstream employment support is not suitable
- Appointing a business leader to advise Ministers on the steps to reduce the perceived risk of recruiting those with fluctuating health conditions
- Developing targets for the employment of disabled people within the Scottish Government’s own workforce
Fair Work Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “Everybody who can and wants to work should have the chance to find rewarding jobs. Unfortunately, far too many disabled people are currently denied this opportunity.
“I am determined that we do everything in our power to address inequality in the workforce and ensure disabled people are supported to have fair and sustainable working lives. The action plan is a significant step forward in making this happen and helping achieve our aim of at least halving the disability employment gap.”
The Disability Employment Gap refers to the difference in employment rates between disabled people and the rest of the working age population. As at 2016, our baseline year, the gap stood at 37.4 percentage points. This means to meet our ambition to at least halve the disability employment gap, we will need to reduce it to 18.7 percentage points.
In response to the Scottish Government publishing A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: employment action plan, Leonard Cheshire in Scotland’s Director Stuart Robertson said: “We welcome the Scottish Government’s employment action plan and we share its over-arching ambition to create a Scotland that supports people with disabilities to flourish.
“Whilst it is welcome that the employment action plan sets interim targets to reduce the disability employment gap, with a pledge to halve it by 2038 – we call on the Scottish Government to be far more ambitious in empowering people with disabilities to enter and remain in employment.
“We know that 1 in 5 working-age people in Scotland have a disability and they can contribute a wealth of talent, experience and perspectives to the workforce – helping companies to grow and strengthening Scotland’s economic performance.
“We welcome the Scottish Government’s ambition to lead by example with its commitment to set a target for the employment of people with disabilities within its own workforce. We support the action plan’s collective approach with the private sector to break down the barriers preventing people with disabilities from entering and remaining in the world of work. Our own research has found that one in five employers have reservations about employing people with disabilities and these attitudes persist.
“Until we bring about real societal change, we will fail to truly empower people with disabilities to play a full part in our economy and our society.”
View A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan.
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