Today the Government published its response to its consultation “Disability employment Support: fulfilling potential” . The response sets out the strategy for specialist disability employment programmes and includes a summary of the responses to the public consultation of the Sayce Review “Getting in, staying in and getting on”.
Full response ….
Main points; the Government:
- Welcomed the Sayce Reviews recommendations about how we can deliver more effective specialist disability employment programmes to help disabled people move into and keep work.
- supported the central theme that resources should be directed towards disabled people themselves, giving them choice and control in the services they receive.
- accepted all recommendations on Access to Work – specifically that it is highly cost effective, should be made more widely available and funding should be increased as resources are released from the reform of less effective programmes.
- accepted the recommendations on Remploy – the Government will reduce its current subsidy to Remploy from the beginning of the new financial year so that it ceases funding factories which make significant losses year after year and restrict funding to factories which might have a prospect of a viable future without Government subsidy.
The Government has also announed today that an extra £15m is available for Access to Work in this Spending Review period. And with other efficiencies this will help a further 8,000 disabled people to either enter work or retain their job.
1400 individuals and organisations responded to the consultation.