A new nationwide employment strategy will help thousands of disabled people find work, it has been announced.
The package of support, developed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), is designed to break down barriers and improve accessibility to jobs.
According to the report, Jobcentre Plus sites across the country will receive new training and equipment to support disabled jobseekers. This includes:
- Specialist accessibility training, delivered in partnership with Microsoft, to help more disabled jobseekers secure employment.
- A new autism framework, designed with the National Autistic Society (NAS), to transform the service available to jobseekers on the autism spectrum.
- New tools – including immersive readers, magnifiers, and automated captions – to help jobseekers complete their daily work and complete job applications and carry out interviews.
The strategy comes after research revealed that people with disabilities are often “locked out of employment” due to “lack of understanding and knowledge” from employers and colleagues, and anxiety-inducing workplaces, such as busy, bright or noisy environments, that can be distressing.
Commenting on the plans, the Minister for Disabled People Chloe Smith said: “Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to find a job they love and to progress in their career.
“By testing this autism framework and offering new specialist training to our jobcentre staff we are helping to deliver more employment opportunities for those who would otherwise feel locked out, as we work towards seeing one million more disabled people in work by 2027.”
The latest statistics suggest that one in five working-age adults have some form of disability, indicating that health and disability issues are affecting the working lives of millions of people.
