Promoting contribution: Boosting employment opportunity for all

Our proposals for overhauling labour market support to work better for people with illness and disability issues

Article

This paper focusses on improving support into the job market for people with health conditions and disabilities and those facing long-term unemployment, who face considerable disadvantages.

Growth in the economy will be the most significant factor in headline labour market trends over the coming years. However, if everyone is to have real employment opportunities then traditional welfare-to-work 'activation' strategies will need to be substantially overhauled and improved. Minor changes involving supported job-search plus slices of extra provision (such as for skills, IT or confidence-building) will not be sufficient to enable employment among those with a reduced work capacity.

In this report, we propose a plan to raise the employment rate of disabled people and radically reduce long-term unemployment – with four core elements:

  1. The next phase of the Work Programme should be focused on supporting long-term jobseekers and those ESA claimants recovering from temporary health conditions, with contracts based on meaningful economic geographies and followed by a job guarantee to prevent long-term unemployment.
  2. Those with a long-term health condition or disability that reduces their capacity to work should participate in 'New Start', a new, locally-led supported employment programme for ESA claimants, with integrated budgets and incentives for success.
  3. Stronger obligations should be placed on employers and employees to exhaust rehabilitation opportunities during sickness absence, to reduce the flow onto ESA.
  4. The risk of hiring those with a health condition or disability should be reduced by the state taking on sick pay liability for ex-ESA claimants, starting with small firms.

Related items

  1. A little girl in a red school uniform looks at the camera while another student writes with a pencil next to her

    What comes next: A fairer approach to primary assessment

    England’s primary school accountability and assessment system is not working well for disadvantaged children.
  2. A woman’s hand filling in a postal ballot / voting form.

    A durable majority?: How public opinion on the EU performs under pressure

    A decade on from Brexit, Andy Burnham has signalled that a reassessment of the UK’s relationship with the EU might be around the corner.
  3. Flags of Great Britain and European Union

    New world, new relationship: Our future with Europe

    Britain’s assumptions about its place in the world no longer hold, upturned by Russian aggression, American unreliability and Chinese coercion.