Welfare Reform on the Web (June 2003): Social Security - UK - New Deal

DISABILITY, PARTICIPATION AND WELFARE TO WORK IN STAFFORDSHIRE

M. Wood

Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 11, 2003, p. 43-48

Presents Staffordshire's Welfare to Work Joint Investment Plan, aiming to improve employment opportunities for disabled people and carers. Two groups of disabled people attended Staffordshire University's Consumers as Researchers course. They gained research skills, which they then used to identify barriers to employment for disabled people in Staffordshire.

JOB SCHEME FOR YOUNG PEOPLE LESS EFFECTIVE AFTER 5 YEARS

D. Turner

Financial Times, April 3^rd 2003, p.6

Labour's flagship programme to find jobs for young people is less effective now than when it started five years ago. Official statistics were obtained by the Tories in a parliamentary answer. In 1998, the first year of the New Deal, 47 per cent obtained "sustained jobs" - those that last more than 13 weeks - but, by 2002, only 30 per cent found such posts.

PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT?

R. Holmes

Disability Rights Bulletin, Spring 2003, p. 2-4

Comments on the government's latest package of proposals for getting disabled people off benefits and into work. Expresses concern about lack of reference in the proposals to:

• job retention;
• the Access to Work Scheme;
• media hostility to disabled claimants;
• combating negative attitudes among employers.

WHAT HAPPENS TO 16-18s?

P. Bivand

Working Brief, no. 143, 2003, p. 14-16

The Youth Cohort Study commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills shows that 13% of young people are not in education, training or employment at the age of 18. The chance of getting into this position is much higher for those who are persistent or occasional truants in year 11 of secondary school, who are excluded from school in years 10 or 11, whose highest qualification by age 18 is below level 2, who have a disability or who are from the Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic group.