Plans that work: Employment outcomes for people with learning disabilities

Article

Many of us have some form of learning disability. If you are one of these people, you are less likely to live an independent life, and you are significantly less likely to have a job. This short paper considers whether the additional support that is provided to children and young people with learning disabilities helps them properly prepare for adulthood, and considers how it might have to change to better achieve this.

While being in paid work is neither necessary nor desirable for everyone in society, many people with learning disabilities would like to work. Increasing employment among people with learning disabilities, as part of a wider range of social changes to enable them to live more independent, fulfilling and secure lives, brings considerable benefits to the individual, to employers and to society as a whole.

Yet employment rates for those with learning disabilities are persistently and extremely low.

This paper explores the barriers to employment for people with learning disabilities, principally in relation to support for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), and sets out recommendations for change.

Related items

  1. Aerial view of the Borders General Hospital on the edge of the Scottish Borders town of Melrose

    More for less? Employment, productivity and reform in Scottish public services

    Excellent public services should be foundational to a flourishing society.

  2. What would it take to eradicate child poverty in Scotland?

    Delivering on the First Minister’s commitment to ‘eradicate’ child poverty seems a long way off.
  3. A wind farm in the hills to the south of Glasgow, Scotland.

    Apathy and opposition: Understanding the real threats to net zero

    Climate action is under siege from populist and far-right actors. Delivering under that pressure demands fresh confidence and commitment from government.