Status Employment is a charity helping those people further away from the labour market. Whilst we welcome the proposal of offering a more work-focused benefit we have a concern that it could create a two-tier system. Over 70% of the candidates who use Status Employment would fall into section 21 page 6. Yet we have been incredibly successful at moving this client group into employment as well as into social inclusion. Currently the major challenge is that 70% of our funding for this candidate group is non-mainstream as they do not fit into the current target culture that is expected by mainstream funders. The current length of time for our candidates to find employment is 11 months and then comprehensive support is then offered to help sustainability. We believe this type of intervention can often be cheaper than the person constantly using other medical services. It is vital within these proposals that funding and programmes either with the DWP or with partnership with the DOH are identified so that these candidates can be included in society.
Whilst Status Employment welcomes the idea of employment consultants working with GP’S we also feel that GP’S should not be coerced into sending patients there as this could jeopardise the doctor patient relationship.
Status Employment would like to see some proper linkage with the DTI to see how employers would fit into the equation. We have a concern that there it is yet again an expectation that the public services will provide the jobs. This is also stated in the Valuing People Learning Disability White Paper but has not come to fruition. Status Employment still only gains less than 5% of its jobs from public services.
Status Employment would like to make sure that quality provision that takes into account comprehensive support packages will be offered to candidates wishing to gain employment and that the Government properly consult with BASE (British Association of Supported Employment) as many of it members work with a large proportion of candidates wishing to find work but unable to access current DWP provision.”
The following comments were provided subsequent to the meeting by one of the Focus Group Members who has personal experience of returning to work after a period of absence. At his request they were not included in our formal response but we felt were useful to reproduce here:
I believe that mental health patients will specifically have problems attending work based interviews at job centres etc. This will particularly hit people whose illness tends to be cyclical. They'll be able to attend and appear virtually ready for work when they're having a good month. Then when they feel down they'll stop attending and automatically see their benefits cut
I also firmly believe that this plan will not affect those against whom it is genuinely targeted. The people who are playing the system - and I believe the numbers of these are greatly exaggerated for political purposes - will continue to find ways to play the system, as they have done for years. The real losers are likely to be those suffering mental health problems, and similar cases who will perhaps find the changes difficult to adjust to and will find blunt letters from the DWP telling them they have to attend work interviews potentially intimidating.
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