Latest news from DWUK:
July 2012
DWUK APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The DWUK Board has recently appointed a new Chairman and an Executive Director. Graham Wareham the Chief Finance Officer of Leonard Cheshire Disability has taken over the role of Chairman from Paul Farmer of Mind.
At the beginning of May 2012, Toni Percival took on the role of Executive Director of DWUK. Toni has considerable experience in the Welfare to Work Employability Sector including DWP Head of Sourcing for the Work Programme and Work Choice and most recently as a consultant with Carley Consult. Toni said “I am delighted to be joining DWUK at this exciting time. Having gained a range of sub-contracts in the Work Programme we now need to prove that the DWUK concept works and that we can add real value to people’s journey through the Work Programme and help disabled people gain the skills and confidence to enter employment.”
DISABILITY WORKS UK STATEMENT
Disability Works UK is a not-for-profit consortium of eight national disability charities that have come together to provide tailored employment support to disabled people.
Disability Works UK has secured a number of sub-contracts to deliver the Work Programme; the Government's employment initiative aimed at supporting long-term unemployed and disabled people into work.
Through the Work Programme, Disability Works UK provides tailored support and training, including interview practice, skills development, help with job applications, CV writing and in-work support. We also work with employers to ensure that people are well supported in their roles.
Given the combined expertise of our members, we feel that we are ideally and uniquely placed to be able to offer disabled people high quality support that meets their individual needs. With employment rates of around 51% for disabled people, which are significantly lower than the 77% for non-disabled people, many disabled people are denied the right to work that the wider population largely takes for granted. In particular, employment rates for those with depression, anxiety or learning disabilities are even lower than those for people with other types of disability at between 16–30%. We are delivering services through the Work Programme to ensure that people receive the tailored support they need, which we know works; and to give disabled people the best possible chance of success of securing a job.
DWUK believes that sanctions do not incentivise disabled people to look for work, nor do they give them the confidence to do so. However, it is true that attendance on the Work Programme is mandatory for many people, who are subject to the conditionality rules as appropriate to their benefits. We do work with such people in order to ensure they get appropriate and tailored support into work. If an individual does not attend a referral or other activity, as required, DWUK would be obliged to report that non-compliance to the Work Programme prime provider. We do however try to ensure that the circumstances and implications around non compliance are fully disclosed and understood by the individual. We also ensure that relevant factors behind non-compliance – including the impact of learning disabilities, mental health, physical health and sensory impairment are passed on to the prime provider. DWP decision makers can then be provided with all the relevant facts to help them make the right decision. We also state where we are concerned that the individual is vulnerable and where sanctions might have a negative impact upon them. DWUK members are not directly involved in delivering sanctions – this action is taken by DWP via Job Centre Plus.
13th October 2011
The Disability Works UK launch took place at the House of Lords on Thursday 13th October 2011 with speeches from Lord Low of Dalston and Susan Scott-Parker OBE, the founder and chief executive of Employers’ Forum on Disability.
Please visit the DWUK Launch page to see some photographs of the event.
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