some thoughts on how I would start to change the work program

I took part in this weeks panorama which showed problems in the work program and I would like take the opportunity to share my ideas on how I would change the program as a whole. My thoughts are nothing to do with the provider who is supporting me to find employment and I will just on disability and employment because that is what I have experience of.

I think there are two main issues with the work program, the first is financial and the second is the actual business of supporting people into employment. Disabled people are seen to be harder to place into employment because they may need extra support to work, for example a person who is depressed may need confidence classes before they can enter the labour market. I have cerebral palsy and am quite prepared to move to find work. This is where I need help because if I do find a job elsewhere in the country I will need help to find accessible accommodation, I live in Edinburgh and found a job in London which I was offered and had to turn down because I couldn’t find accessible accommodation, As disabled people do take longer to support into employment it is right that firms are paid slightly more as they have to do more work to succeed. I found it amusing learning that as a disabled person I have “bounty” on my head.

A Criticism of the Work program is that providers are paid a lot of money. I would like to know did the Government do a cost analysis of doing the program through the job centre? I am asking because I would think the premium paid would be lower, because I would think the government would not want to make money in the same way as the private sector providers, so the overheads would be smaller because as well as costs such as staff profit is not an issue

To help people into work there has to be jobs for the providers and the clients to find to apply for. There can be as many people as you want to have on the work program but if there are not the jobs for them to move into they will be on the program for a long time. That is why the staff who work for the providers do not have the time to work with their clients as I said on the program last night because they have lots of clients but few jobs

Now I will move on to how I would change the program. Firstly I would put disabled people straight on to the work program instead of waiting a year of people claiming JSA before doing so, as happened to me. It maybe different for others.

I would do this because surely the barriers faced by the participants would be the same as on day 365 and if the support they require is to gain confidence the longer the time it is not dealt with the worse it shall be.

Secondly I would use the program as a chance to revolutionise the way employment for disabled people is view in this country. Successive governments have viewed it as providing supported employment through factories such as Employ, In my view supported employment in those environments is only part of the solution because disabled people go to university and college in greater number than they did but there is not a scheme to support them into employment.

I am a graduate and in 2007/2008 I was part of a scheme for disabled graduates run by the disability charity SCOPE which placed disabled graduates with firms and provided support to disabled people for 12 months and at the end of scheme it was up to the firm if they took on the disabled person at the end of that time. In September 2008 I was a placed at an investment bank but I never got my feet under the table as the bank was Lehman Brothers and I started on the day they went bust. I would like to see a similar scheme rolled out nationally. I would also like a scheme to make it easier for disabled people to move home. This is needed because jobs may not be availible for people where they live but it takes time to find suitable accessible accommodation and employers may not wait that long before rescinding the offer of employment

so there are a few ideas on how to improve the work program, I hope a decision maker will read it and give it some thought. But I most of all I hope I find a job so the bounty can be taken off my head.