Forwarded from someone somewhere else:
If you're not in or from the UK, this will probably not interest you at
all.
Monday 11 June 2007 11:41
Department for Work And Pensions (National)
New initiative to increase employment opportunities for disabled people
Employers should make use of the wide pool of resources and skills that
disabled employees have to offer according to John Hutton, Secretary of
State for the Department for Work & Pensions. He today announced a new
initiative, 'Employ Ability', which will highlight the benefits of
employing
disabled people and dispel some of the myths.
With over 600,000 vacancies in the British economy waiting to be filled, Mr
Hutton believes that employers may be missing out on talented and motivated
staff if they refuse to look at disabled workers as a solution to their
staffing needs.
Mr Hutton said:
"I believe we need to go further in getting employers themselves to do more
in supporting both recruitment and retention of disabled people.
"However, we will not succeed in changing the attitudes of employers by
simply placing additional burdens on them. It has to be about enabling them
to see and benefit from the huge potential that disabled people have to
offer and the difference that they can make to an employer's bottom line."
Mr Hutton said that Government has played its part in helping disabled
people to be 'work-ready' - through programmes such as New Deal for
Disabled
People and Pathways to Work - and employers should make more use of this
workforce, which the Employ Ability initiative will help them to do.
Employ Ability will be piloted in the four cities of Leeds, Bradford,
Manchester and Liverpool from September before being rolled out nationally
next year and will:
- Challenge negative assumptions about the skills and talent disabled
workers, and those with long-term health conditions have to offer and
address misconceptions of risk (such as that adaptations to the workplace
for the disabled employee are costly - in most cases the costs are
negligible or cost nothing)
- Build the confidence of employers in recruiting and retaining disabled
workers and promote best practice examples of how this is being
successfully
done to the benefit of business.
- Improve employers' access to practical information, making it easier for
them to locate relevant sources of advice and support for their situation.
Employ Ability will advise employers not only on best practice in
recruiting
disabled employees but also in retaining current employees who become
disabled while in the job - this is necessary in order to prevent those
employees from having to leave their job.
Disabled people cannot be ignored as part of the solution if the government
is to meet the target of an overall 80% employment rate and eradicating
child poverty in Britain. The current employment rate of disabled people is
50% compared to 74% for non-disabled people.
Increasing the number of disabled people in mainstream employment will also
help towards achieving equality of disabled people in society overall,
which
is one of the ambitions of the government.
Mr Hutton said:
"Our ambition must be a world where meeting the needs of disabled people is
seen not as a burden but as an opportunity; where discrimination is seen
not
as an inevitable part of the culture of our country but as a fundamental
barrier to our success; and where disabled people themselves are never
consigned to accepting second best but empowered and supported to achieve
full equality of opportunity and genuine independence and respect within
our
society."
Note for Editors
1. The Secretary of State was speaking at an event organised by the Social
Market Foundation. His speech is available at
http://www.dwp.
gov.uk/aboutus/
speechesindex.
asp
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