Mapping Disability Need in Employment (Wales)
RNIB Cymru survey shows failure in meeting disabled job seeker needs. People with disabilities face considerable discrimination when trying to look for or keep a job in Wales. In particular, research from RNIB Cymru shows that employment services often fail to meet a job seeker's needs in the crucial weeks of starting work or when an existing employee is diagnosed with a disability.
The 'Mapping Disability Need' research project commissioned by RNIB Cymru found that people with disabilities lack advice and information on basic issues such as getting transport to work, accessing support schemes or simply being shown around a new place of work.
'Mapping Disability Need' is the first comprehensive study of the employment issues affecting people with disabilities in general and people with sight problems in particular in Wales. Two participants in the project outlined the difficulties they faced when starting a new job :
'There is nobody available you could ask to help you learn new routes, which is a limiting factor in training and looking for employment. They just don't realise.'
'If you are a blind person, even if you get as far as getting a job, there's no-one to show you around.'
Joyce Chatterton, Director of RNIB Cymru, believes that overcoming these barriers to finding and retaining work is neither difficult nor expensive. 'Much good work is already being done. What we need to do now is bridge the gap when someone starts a job or develops a disability. Providing the appropriate support at this vital stage is not rocket science and will enable more people with disabilities to join the workforce.'
One out of every two people with a disability does not have a job. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (Labour Force Survey Autumn 2001) found that only 48 percent of people with disabilities were in work compared with 81 percent who are not disabled. RNIB research (Work Matters 2002) shows that adults with sight problems are even less likely to be in work, with three out of four not in paid employment.
The study found the following barriers to people with disabilities seeking and retaining work :
· inadequate support when starting a new job,
· transport and mobility problems,
· too little information about schemes such as Access to Work,
· misconceptions about what people with disabilities can do,
· lack of awareness of the needs of people with disabilities,
· the benefits trap.
The report is 203 pages long and is at a cost of 20.00 Pounds.
The full study entitled "Mapping Disability Need in Employment (Wales)" is available from John Sole, Employment Officer, RNIB Cymru :
Tel : +44 29 20450440
E-mail :
John.Sole@rnib.org.uk
Address : RNIB Cymru
Trident Court
East Moors Road
Cardiff, South Glamorgan CF24 5TD
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Access to Work Programme for Employees
What is Access to Work (ATW) ?
Access to Work aims to assist disabled people who are in paid employment or with a job to start by providing practical support and helping to meet additional costs associated with overcoming work related obstacles resulting from disability. You may also wish to refer to the factsheet Disability Discrimination Act: employment and recruitment.
How does it do this ?
Access to Work brings together provision from several smaller programmes within a flexible programme driven by the needs of you and your employer. It seeks to deliver high quality, cost effective and well managed support. The flexibilities within the programme allow a wide range of provisions to meet your needs because of disability. Key principles of Access to Work are to meet only the additional costs of employing a person because of their disability.
Am I eligible for help through Access to Work ?
Basic conditions
In order to receive Access to Work assistance, you will need to satisfy the following basic conditions. You therefore must :
- be disabled (and the disability is likely to last for 12 months or longer) and
or
- be in need of support at a job interview with an employer
- have a job to start, or
- be in a job, whether as an employed or self-employed person
- be in need of support to progress in, or take up work, on a more equal
basis with non-disabled colleagues
- be resident in Great Britain, excluding Northern Ireland, with a job in Great Britain (support can, however, be used to cover the client for overseas visits providing the job is based in the UK)
Other eligibility criteria may apply and the ATW Adviser will be able to advise you in more detail about the conditions that apply and whether or not you are eligible for help.
What type of help is provided through Access to Work ?
Access to Work can help you in a number of ways. For example, it can help pay for :
- Adaptations to Premises and Equipment - Modification of an employer's or self-employed person's premises or equipment.
- Communication Support at Interview - Help with the costs of employing an interpreter or communicator to accompany a hearing impaired person, where there might be communication difficulties at a job interview with an employer.
- Miscellaneous - "One off" items of support that do not fit elsewhere, such as a grant towards the costs of deaf awareness training for close colleagues of a deaf person.
- Special Aids and Equipment - Provision of aids and equipment which a non-disabled person doing the same job would not need.
- Support Workers - Help with the costs of employing personal support for a job interview, on your journey to and from work or other help including Personal Reader.
- Travel to Work - Support when you incur extra costs in travelling to and from work because of your disability.
How will my needs be assessed ?
The ATW Adviser will normally phone or visit you at your place of work. They will also need to discuss the application with your employer to enable them to arrive at the most effective provision.
Sometimes specialist or technical advice may be needed, the ATW Adviser will arrange for a specialist provider, such as the RNIB, to complete an assessment and recommend appropriate support. A written and confidential report will be sent to the ATW Adviser, who will use the information to help them to decide on the level of support that can be approved.
The ATW Adviser will seek formal approval of the recommendations and once approved the Employment Service will write to both you and your employer informing you of the level of approved support and the grant available.
How long will it take to get the help needed ?
The Employment Service aims to arrange the help needed in the shortest possible time. However, if it is likely to take some time, the ATW Adviser will explore temporary alternatives, for example a support worker or reader, while the permanent provision is sorted out.
Who will buy the help needed ?
Once the assessment process has been completed the ATW Adviser will discuss your needs with you and your employer and will agree what help can be provided through Access to Work. The ATW Adviser may ask your employer to obtain quotes in order to arrive at the approved cost.
It is usually the employers or self-employed person's responsibility to procure or purchase support and equipment required and then claim a grant towards the approved cost from Access to Work.
Your employer should not purchase any items until the Employment Service has notified you both that they have approved the agreed support. The Employment Service will send your employer a claim form and will ask for proof of purchase.
How much is the Access to Work grant ?
Funding varies depending on your employment status as follows :
Unemployed people : (unemployed people starting a new job)
100 per cent of identified costs of all types of support
People changing jobs : (with their current employer)
100 per cent of identified costs of all types of support
Employed people - cost sharing :
Employers are required to cost share ATW by paying the first Pounds 300 plus a further minimum 20 per cent of the cost up to a ceiling of Pounds 10,000. The Employment Service will pay the remaining amount up to a maximum of 80 per cent and up to 100 per cent of agreed costs over and above Pounds 10,000 (see also business benefit below). The ATW Adviser is responsible for agreeing the level of cost sharing with the employer.
Self-employed people :
100 per cent of all identified costs for all funding (see also business benefit below).
Travel to work :
100 per cent of identified travel costs to work and within work irrespective of employment status. Normal public transport costs and employer travel and subsistence payments are taken into account and deducted from the grant made.
Communicator support at interview :
100 per cent of identified costs irrespective of employment status.
Support Worker :
100 per cent of identified costs irrespective of employment status.
The business benefit : In some cases ATW support may incur a business benefit, for example if other members of staff use your specialist equipment as part of their own work. In these instances the business benefit costs will be estimated and deducted from the ATW costs before normal cost sharing rules are applied as detailed above.
How to apply for Access to Work ?
Either you or your employer should contact your local Jobcentre and ask to be referred to either the ATW Adviser or the ATW Business Centre, who will tell you more about Access to Work and how it works in your area.
What will the ATW Adviser Need to Know ?
There are actions that you can take yourself to help the ATW Adviser to deal with the application quickly. Do not wait until you have started your new job before asking for help, the sooner the ATW Adviser knows about the request for support the more time they will have to get help ready for when you start.
The ATW Adviser will need some detailed information, it will help if you can ask your employer for the following information to pass on to the ATW Adviser. This may include any or all of the following :
- A job description for the new job;
- Your expected start date;
- Contact details for your line manager;
- Contact details for your employer's Information Technology specialist;
- Contact details about who will authorise the purchase and cost sharing.
Complaints and disagreements
If you are not satisfied with the service you get from the ATW Business Centre in discussions about Access To Work, you should write to the ABC Manager straight away explaining what happened or why you are not satisfied. If, when you have the reply, you are still dissatisfied you should ask for the matter to be referred to the Regional Disability Services Manager who will carry out a full investigation.
Other titles in this series of Employment Information for blind and partially sighted people in work or looking for work are :
- Career Support and Job Seeking Resources
- Disability Discrimination Act: employment and recruitment
- Disclosure of disability
- Guidelines on producing a Curriculum Vitae
- Retaining your job
- Self Employment
- Using support workers
For employers, there is one unified document entitled Guidelines for Employers available in print or disk format.
This information may be accessed via RNIB's website at www.rnib.org.uk/employment during 2002. Employment information for blind and partially sighted people in work or looking for work may be obtained in print, braille, tape and disk format.
The following titles aimed at blind and partially sighted students in further, higher and continuing education, are available in the Student Factsheet series :
- Choosing a career
- RNIB Post-Sixteen Education Officers
- Finding a course
- Financial assistance for blind and partially sighted students
- RNIB Study Needs/Technology Assessments
- Strategies for study
- Libraries and Information Services
- Images and Illustrations including maps, diagrams and pictures
- Examinations/Assessments
- Useful contacts and services
- Disability Discrimination Act: Post-Sixteen Education
This information may be accessed via RNIB's student website at www.rnib.org.uk/student or obtained in print, braille, tape and disk format.
To order any titles in the Employment Information series or the Student Factsheets, please contact the RNIB Helpline, telephone +44 845 766 9999 or email
helpline@rnib.org.uk. If you have any further enquiries, please contact the Helpline who will direct you to the appropriate Information Officer for your region.
RNIB's Technology in Learning and Employment team may be able to assist with enquiries relating to technology for study or work.
Telephone : +44 870 013 9555
Website :
www.rnib.org.uk/technology
Email :
technology@rnib.org.uk
Reference : RNIB EI Access to Work Programme for Employees, revised February 2002
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Employment of the Visually Impaired in Poland
by Tadeusz Majewski
Polish Association of the Blind
To create and sustain jobs for the Polish visually impaired is the main challenge faced by the Polish Association of the Blind (PAB). The economic and social transition of the last 10 years towards free-market economy has led to high unemployment rates amongst the general population (13,5 per cent in 2001).
According to PAB, there are some 80 000 blind and partially sighted people in Poland. In 1999 only 5 419 out of 40 457 visually impaired people of working age had a job - i.e. an unemployment rate of 86,6 per cent.
Nearly 12 000 people were employed in cooperatives for the blind in the late 80s. The situation has detoriorated since then : in 1999 only, 1 800 jobs were lost. PAB has been fighting hard to reverse this trend. PAB representatives have been actively involved in the introduction of legislative measures to improve the employment situation of the disabled in Poland. Current legislation provides that in businesses with more than 25 employees, 6 per cent of staff must be disabled. If this quota is not met, the employer must contribute financially towards the State Rehabilitation Fund which aims to cover the costs of vocational and social rehabilitation of the disabled. As regards the creation of jobs, the Fund partly covers wages paid to disabled employees and the costs of adapting workstations.
PAB also runs sheltered workshops to provide jobs to the visually impaired. By the end of 1999 there were 72 blind and partially sighted employees in these workshops.
Persons with high professional qualifications - computer skills, law, languages - have much less problems in finding jobs on the open labour market. This also applies to some professions traditionally open to the visually impaired - e.g. masseurs : 1 064. Some members have recently started their own businesses. By the end of 1999, 411 blind and partially sighted persons were self-employed. One of them is a notary running his own office.
PAB is actively co-operating with State-run special schools for the blind. Based on experience and knowledge gained from other countries, we are now trying to establish new training activities in these schools. PAB is also involved in training teachers from mainstream schools where more and more visually impaired children are educated.
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