The All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability launched their report, “Ahead of the arc” on December 7th. The report highlights the likelihood that the Government will miss its target to halve the disability employment gap.
It offers the Government details of what new interventions in the economy will be required for it to succeed in fulfilling its manifesto commitment to halve the gap between the employment rate of disabled people and that of non-disabled people by 2020.
The report focuses upon three policy areas currently under-utilised or neglected by Government:
- A right to return to work for newly disabled workers to retain their jobs
- Using the Government’s leverage as the biggest purchaser of goods and services in the economy to stipulate disability inclusive recruitment and retention in public sector contracting
- Ensuring that growth sectors of the economy such as construction, care, energy generation and food and drink etc. have sector wide policies that target disabled people as the workers who will fill future skills shortages in these sectors.
Independent: The Government could create jobs for disabled people – if it could be bothered that is
At the moment, the Government’s policy towards disabled people really necessitates an asterisk being added to Theresa May’s signature phrase: ‘a country that works for the many not just the few’ which says ‘except for disabled people because we don’t much care about them’
CIPD: Opinion: Culture change holds the key to reducing the disability employment gap
Disability news service: Disabled people face institutional disablism from employers, says damning report
