Helping people achieve their full potential: Improving Specialist Disability Employment Services
This consultation contains proposals to reform Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability employment services that help disabled people who have complex issues to find, retain and progress in work – the Job Introduction Scheme, Work Preparation, WORKSTEP, Access to Work and the role of Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentre Plus.
The proposals are based on:
inclusion – helping disabled people and non-disabled people together on DWP provision wherever possible, rather than segregating disabled people purely because of their disability or by their ‘type’ of disability;
tailored support - ensuring DWP provision is more personalised, flexible and easy to use for the benefit of customers and employers; and
progression – helping disabled people make effective transitions from benefits and worklessness into sustainable paid work, and from supported employment to being able to retain their job without external DWP support.
They include:
helping disabled customers through mainstream employment programmes (such as the New Deals) wherever possible
enhancing the role of Jobcentre Plus Disability Employment Advisers to help ensure that disabled people get the right support package to help them achieve their employment goals
moving away from the current separate programmes to a new programme of integrated, personalised, and tailored packages of support. The new programme would be delivered in partnership with organisations from the public, private and third sectors and cover pre-employment support right through to job retention and longer-term supported employment
seeking views on Access to Work to explore ways in which DWP can further improve the service
The DWP is seeking views about the reforms proposed in the consultation. Particularly, they are interested to hear from disabled people, employers and organisations that represent the interests of disabled people.
The DWP has listed the main questions they would like you to respond to at the end of chapters 2 to 5 and again in Annex A. You are, however, free to respond to any part of the consultation document.
Disability alliance has prepared a briefing on the consultation, which can be downloaded from the link below.
Closing date
The closing date for responses was Monday 10 March 2008.
advisers 
