All Together NOW! has teamed up with Access to Work – the Government’s specialist disability employment scheme – to help more disabled people stay or get into mainstream work or set up their own businesses.
Access to Work helps pay for specialised equipment, support workers and travel costs.
Last year 700 people from Birmingham received support to get or stay in work, with 550 from Leeds, and 400 from Glasgow. Manchester (380) was fourth in the table, while Liverpool (370) took sixth place.
Esther McVey, Minister for Disabled People, said: “Although the disability employment rate has increased over recent years, there is still more we need to do to close the gap between disabled people and non-disabled people.
“That is why we’ve opened up our flagship programme so that disabled people can have the same choice of jobs as everyone else – in every sector, from hairdressing to engineering and everything in between.
“Last year, more than 30,000 disabled people took up our offer of extra support through Access to Work – but we know many more disabled people could benefit, so I’d urge them to see how the scheme might help them get or stay in work.”
Recent changes to Access to Work mean:
Businesses with up to 49 employees will no longer pay a contribution towards their employee’s Access to Work award, saving them up to £2,300 per employee who uses the fund;
Disabled jobseekers who want to set up their own business as part of the Government’s New Enterprise Allowance will now be eligible for Access to Work; and
Access to Work advisers have more flexibility in deciding which equipment is funded through the scheme, offering more choice to disabled people in work.
Half a million disabled people are self-employed, making up 15 per cent of all employed disabled people, and around 100,000 of them provide jobs by employing at least one other person. This compares with the 3.2m non-disabled people in self-employment, which is 13 per cent of those in employment.
More than 300,000 disabled people hold management roles and around 480,000 disabled people run their own business.
If you want help from the Access to Work scheme find out more at www.gov.uk/access-to-work
