Ministers today vowed to
close the gap between the employment rates of
learning disabled people and others through a cross-government
strategy.
Currently an estimated 17% of adults with a learning disability
are in paid work, compared with 49% of disabled people in general,
but two-thirds of learning disabled people would like to work.
The Valuing Employment Now strategy, sponsored by the Department
of Health and Department for Work and Pensions, will include public
sector agencies taking a lead in increasing the employment rate of
people with learning disabilities.
Public sector jobs
Four hundred opportunities will be offered to learning disabled
people across the DWP, while the DH will work with strategic health
authorities and the NHS Confederation to increase the number
employed by the NHS.
All government departments will be issued with guidance to help
them target people with learning disabilities in recruitment
campaigns while Jobcentre Plus staff will receive further training
in support the group.
Job coaches will also be recruited to give people with learning
disabilities the support they need to find and retain paid
work.
'Huge talent pool'
Care services minister Phil Hope said: "Huge progress has been
made in getting physically disabled people into employment but more
must be done to help people with a learning disability - we're
missing a huge talent pool which employers can tap into.
"This strategy lays out an ambitious but achievable goal - to
close the employment gap."
The Learning Disability Coalition, which represents 15
organisations across the sector, welcomed the strategy.
Funding warning
But its chair, former Mencap chief executive Jo Williams,
warned: "With public expenditure cuts on the horizon, council
budgets already under pressure and the numbers of people with a
learning disability needing services already increasing by 3-5% a
year, there is a real risk that this is another strategy without
the wherewithal to make it happen.”
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