The costs of the government's
employment strategy for people with learning disabilities can
be met from existing funds, the government's national director for
learning disabilities has said.
Anne Williams told Community Care that authorities
needed to "refocus" £3bn in annual social care spending to
implement Valuing Employment Now, which aims to increase the number
of people with learning disabilities in paid work in England.
which includes 15 sector bodies, warned the strategy would fail
without extra resources.
Money not delivering outcomes
"There is a lot of money in the system but it isn't delivering
the outcomes people with learning disabilities want," she said.
Williams said that while around £660m was spent on day services,
they were "not effective" in getting people into jobs. "People are
still going to day centres who shouldn't be there", she said.
"Local authorities need to look at focusing day centre services on
employment as part of the modernisation process."
£1.5bn spent on residential care
Williams also raised concerns that authorities were spending
£1.5bn on residential care, adding that people would be "much more
likely" to access jobs if they were in supported
housing.
Councils needed to commission education and training for
16-25-year-olds with learning disabilities effectively when they
took over this responsibility from the Learning and Skills Council
next year, Williams (pictured, right) said. "They will need to
ensure that people do not end up in repeated courses with no jobs
at the end."
She also said service users would be encouraged to use their
personal budgets on employment services such as job coaches.
No evidence of 'benefits trap'
She said she had seen "no evidence" to show that the "benefits
trap" - under which people lose benefits if they work more than 16
hours a week - limited people's ability to enter paid work.
"All the evidence shows that if people can work 16 or more hours
they will be better off," she said. She blamed poor quality advice
for "misconceptions" and said the government would "dispel myths"
and produce accessible information about the system as part of the
strategy.
Williams said the government would set targets in 2010 for
employment rates after it had collected more information about the
situation of people with learning disabilities.
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