Our view on Govt plans to see more disabled people in work

Wed,29 November 2017
News Education

Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability.

Read Government's statement

Link to white paper

Commenting on the launch of the ‘Improving Lives’ strategy, Kamran Mallick, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, said:

“There are many principles to be welcomed in the government’s announcement on getting more disabled people into work – we particularly welcome the idea of personalised employment support  for example, and the recommendations of the Stevenson/Farmer review being accepted and acted upon.

But this is against a backdrop of cuts in support to disabled people in and out of work, and missed opportunities. This week’s industrial strategy was a chance for the government to insist public sector contracts would only be awarded when bids included a mechanism which led to employment or training opportunities for disabled people. It ignored that possibility.

We’ve heard many positive platitudes from governments about the employment of disabled people over the last 20 years but little change in reality. To meet its ambitious target of more than 1 million additional disabled people in work by 2027, this government needs to make sure its ambition is matched with the resources and culture change required to make it happen.”