The UK’s Business Disability Forum (BDF) has responded to the Government’s recent raft of proposals and initiatives on disability, health and employment.
Over recent weeks, the UK’s Government has published a series of policy reports focusing on disability, health and employment. They include Shaping the Future; Health is Everyone’s Business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss; and an autism strategy for 2021 to 2026. Although BDF welcomes many of the proposals outlined in the reports, it is also urging the UK government to provide better support for disability employment and inclusion.
HEALTH & DISABILITY
The Business Disability Forum welcomed the publication of the Health and Disability Green Paper, Shaping the Future. “The green paper recognises the important role that welfare plays in not only supporting people who are looking for work; but also in helping people to remain in and progress once in employment,” stated Angela Matthews, Head of Policy at Business Disability Forum. “Joining up welfare and employment is vital in closing the disability employment gap, by recognising that disabled people do work; and making it financially possible for disabled people to do so.”
Too often, disabled people have been “presented with an unrealistic ‘either or’ option by the welfare system; which assumes that people are either out of work and claiming benefits or in work and able to cover all their costs through their earnings,” pointed out Matthews. “In reality, many disabled people in employment need to rely on welfare in some way. This may be because their condition only makes it possible for them to work part-time; or because they need to meet the additional costs incurred through having a disability.”
ADDITIONAL COSTS & DISCRIMINATION
BDF also welcomed the green paper’s “acknowledgement of the need to address additional costs; and the financial discrimination experienced by disability people through the very nature of having a disability”, said Matthews. “It is unacceptable that disabled people have to spend more to live equal lives.”
Matthews said BDF also supported plans to review the Disability Confident scheme; and its effectiveness in advancing disability inclusion within organisations. “At present, the responsibility for becoming Disability Confident often falls on a few individual roles within an organisation. We need the scheme require a whole organisational approach to disability inclusion,” explained Matthews. “Guidance also needs to be issued to make the validation process less onerous for non-profit organisations with limited internal capacity. Business Disability Forum is carrying out its own review of Disability Confident, which we will be sharing with the Government.”
BDF will be consulting with its Member organisations in coming months to ensure that all proposals announced in the green paper, reflect the realities experienced by disabled employees; and those with long term health conditions. It will also “continue to challenge and change the narrative around disability employment”, confirmed Matthews. She urged “the Government to do the same; and ensure that disabled people are properly consulted with throughout the progression of this green paper”.
HEALTH IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
In response to the consultation on the ‘Health is Everyone’s Business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss’, BDF welcomed the Government’s commitment to transform Access to Work. “It is long overdue,” pointed out Matthews. “We would, however, like to see employers given a greater role in the process. Many employers want to be involved in arranging adjustments for employees – and it makes sense. Yet, in reality, the employee remains the sole point of contact for Access to Work. This places a huge burden on the employee and creates additional and unnecessary barriers around workplace adjustments; by leaving the employer outside of the process.”
BDF believes the introduction of Access To Work passports “is a step in the right direction”, but “the complexities around moving adjustments between roles must be taken into consideration”. “The reasonableness of adjustments must be considered, alongside the needs of the employee; in terms of their disability or health condition at the time of moving roles,” highlighted Matthews. “Adjustments must be regularly reviewed, otherwise they become ineffective. There are also real benefits to involving new line managers in these conversations; so they are able to best support the employee in their new role.”
ACCESS TO WORK
BDF also welcomed the commitment to improving access to Access to Work for SMEs. However, “the proposals need to go further; and recognise the financial situation of SMEs”, Matthews pointed out, because “99% of UK employers are SMEs; and most run on very limited budgets. The current Access to Work rules often require smaller organisations to contribute the first £500 towards the cost of adjustments. We know through our Smarter London SME service that this is unrealistic for many organisations.”
Matthews confirmed that BDF is disappointed at the Government’s decision to not make changes around Statutory Sick Pay. “Recent data shows that NHS waiting times are at their longest ever; and many employees’ sick pay expires before they are diagnosed or treated in the NHS,” she noted. “As the response says, employees working for employers who have provided private health protection options are better placed to ‘recover’ from illness or injury; or manage an ongoing condition. This is of little use to organisations, which are unable to offer private provision, including SMEs.”
BDF also believes that statutory sick pay should be more flexible; so that employers can use it alongside a phased return to work. “At the moment, a full-time employee who comes back to work two days a week, initially, is hugely financially disadvantaged,” Matthews explained. She is concerned that this is “forcing employees to return to full-time work before they are well enough to do so; which can lead to longer periods of ill health, and people falling out of work completely”.
STRATEGY FOR AUTISM
Responding to the Government’s national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults (2021 to 2026), BDF welcomed the goal of improving public awareness around autism. “Many people with autism experience unacceptable abuse due to the public’s limited understanding of autism and how the condition affects people,” Matthews highlighted. “We also welcome the specific measures around better inclusion when accessing public sector services, transport and businesses. We know the important role that inclusive communication plays in people with autism being able to use health care services, especially.”
However, on transitioning between education and employment, BDF wants to “see greater choice available for young people with autism; and the acknowledgement that apprenticeships need to be made more inclusive”, she said.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
On the use of language within the strategy, Matthews argued that “the use of the term ‘acceptance’ in the strategy is unambitious”. She believes we should be looking to create a society and deliver services in “which people with autism can thrive and reach their full potential”.
“We have seen a raft of policy papers issued by the Government over the last few days with a focus on disability,” concluded Matthews. “We look forward to seeing to how these come together in the Government’s anticipated National Disability Strategy.”
Around 1/3 of UK disabled workers say they’ve been treated unfairly by their employers during the pandemic, according to the latest TUC & YouGov poll. Recent government figures also show that redundancy rates are now 62% higher for disabled workers. Click here to read more.
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