North Swindon MP and Minister for Disabled People, Justin Tomlinson, that the town has been chosen as one of three towns and cities in the UK to trial a new approach aimed at increasing the number of job opportunities for disabled people.
The new Small Employer Offer will make it easier for small businesses to hire disabled people. It offers an enhanced package of support for both employers and jobseekers while they are trying to find work and once they have found a job.
People participating in the new Small Employer Offer will be fast tracked for the Access to Work scheme. This will ensure that support is available to disabled employees and their employers on the very first day.
Employers and employees also have the opportunity to take advantage of working interviews, supported work tasters or work trials during this time limited offer. These tasters will enable both the employer and employee to try out the job and see if it is the right job for them before entering into permanent employment.
After three months on the scheme, businesses will have an opportunity to apply for a Small Employer Payment. This will provide continuing support for both the employer and employee and contribute towards any additional costs relating to disability by funding training, mentoring or management time needed.
The Government is committed to halving the gap between the disabled and non-disabled employment rates and get one million more disabled people into work. Over the past two years 339,000 disabled people have moved into employment. In adddition, the Government’s Disability Confident campaign has been running since July 2013, when it was launched by the Prime Minister at the national Disability Employment Conference. It aims to demonstrate to businesses that by making only minor adjustments they can gain access to a wealth of talent.
The Government has already:
- Extended Access to Work to provide support to more disabled people in pre-employment, such as work experience and also to undertake employment-based training, such as supported internships, traineeships and self-arranged work experience;
- Launched Specialist Employability Support, an innovative new programme which provides intensive, specialist support to the disabled people who need the most help;
- Announced new funding in the Budget of up to £100m per year for additional practical support to provide the right incentives and support to enable those who have limited capability, but who have some potential to prepare, for work to move closer to the labour market, and when they are ready, back into work;
- Committed to spending £43m over the next 3 years to develop the evidence base on what works for those with common mental health conditions retain and return to employment. This will be done through a range of voluntary mental health and employment pilots that will go live next year; and
- Set up the Work and Health unit to bring together the Work and Health agendas, to help disabled people and people with health conditions get into work, stay in work, and return to work with the right support and we are developing our plans in this area.
Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson said: “My home town of Swindon is a fantastic place to trial this new approach. There are already so many people and organisations in the town who share our ambition to get disabled people into employment. Often by making only minor changes businesses can recruit excellent and loyal staff and gain an edge over their competitors.If we are to meet our ambition to halve the gap between the disabled and non-disabled employment rates then we need to think in an original way. The Small Employer Offer is a really comprehensive approach as it gives disabled people and employers a wide-range of support to place disabled people in jobs and keep them there. Thanks to this scheme there is now a wide range of support available to businesses which employ 25 or fewer people in Swindon and I urge anyone eligible to take advantage. As a former small business owner myself I know the benefits of casting the net as wide as possible when it comes to recruitment.”
