Agenda item

The Board received presentations from Alex Hendra, Business Manager at Inclusion London, and James Lee, Trailblazers Campaigns Officer at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, after which Members of the Committee had the opportunity to ask questions.

Ms Hendra advised the Committee that Inclusion London worked to support Deaf and Disabled People’s organisations (DDPOs) in London and improve their business skills through coaching, support and training. They also brought organisations together into consortia in order to improve their joint offer to attract funding. Ms Hendra advised that national programmes had a low percentage rate of successfully getting people into employment and, although there was a push to change the format of these programmes, they continued to be funded by results and consequently had little incentive to target those furthest away from being workplace-ready, and therefore those most in need of support. There were numerous barriers preventing Deaf and disabled people from employment, from a lack of part-time or flexible working arrangements to the physical access to transport or access to appropriate technology. DDPOs had a higher success rate of finding employment for Deaf and disabled people owing to their personalised, holistic approach. Unfortunately, the small size of DDPOs that enabled this approach also resulted in an inability to fit existing funding models and, without funding, DDPOs were therefore unable to scale-up and help more people.

Mr Lee built on Ms Hendra’s presentation, speaking specifically about the work Trailblazers was undertaking to help London’s young disabled. A big concern of this population was the difficulty gaining employment and securing financial and personal independence. Mr Lee detailed his organisation’s multi-team work experience programme to equip young people with the skills needed for employment, and referred to workshops run with external organisations to give young people tailored CV advice, practice interviews, and career advice. Members noted that the personalised, holistic approach addressed each individual’s needs – something a national programme would not be able to offer.

In response to Members’ queries, both Mr Lee and Ms Hendra suggested that the proposal to cap the grants from the Access to Work scheme made little financial sense, as fewer people would be able to access work and therefore the potential workforce was reduced. Ms Hendra also advised that the cap would disproportionately affect certain disabled groups most in need; e.g. funds needed to offset the high cost of interpreters needed by Deaf people, or transportation costs of getting to work. With regard to employers, Mr Lee advised that there was a widespread preconception that disabled people would have a poor attitude to work or a lower productivity when, if jobs and work environments were tailored to people’s skills and interests, output and skill levels were high. Ms Hendra added that employment practices could also act as barriers to people finding work; for instance, an open recruitment process would rule out applicants with disabilities such as autism at an early stage, when they might have the skills base to perform the job to a high standard.

The Chairman thanked Ms Hendra and Mr Lee for their presentations.