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Ways Into Work is a small team of dedicated staff which supports disabled people to access employment and training opportunities. The Social Inclusion Task Force completed a piece of research which showed individuals with a learning disability were the most excluded group of people from the workforce. Around 43% of other disabled people have some kind of paid employment compared with only 10% of people with a learning disability. There are many reasons why we work – being part of our communities, feeling valued, developing friendships and usually, money. These are also important to people with a learning disability, with 63% of people saying they would like to work. Ways Into Work entered into a local area agreement in 2008, working collaboratively with our HR department to change this statistic at a local level, and as employees of one of the largest organisations, the council, it was agreed we needed to lead by example. The chief executive, together with the whole senior management team supported the initiative to increase the numbers of people with a learning disability working within the council. As the traditional recruitment process remains one of the main barriers to people with a learning disability accessing employment, we began by working with HR to look at these processes. We began looking at ‘job carving' a process that looks at the tasks within a job description and identifies those which could be done by someone with a learning disability. A good example of this was within the legal services team, which took a 37-hour post and identified a number of tasks that did not need to be undertaken by someone with a legal background. We ‘carved off' five hours and were able to create a 15-hour administrative post to be undertaken by someone with a learning disability and still go out to advert for 32 hours. This process enabled someone with a learning disability to take on those tasks which then freed up those team members with a professional qualification to concentrate on providing legal support to the council. Ways Into Work and HR also identified some gaps within service provision and created roles that could help to make the council more efficient by providing a cost-effective solution to meet needs within services. An example of this was within the parks teams, where members of the community had identified litter and graffiti-removal being important to them. This would, however, be an expensive service to commission, and we therefore created a parks team of four individuals with a learning disability who are able to undertake those roles and assist in keeping the parks feeling a place where the community wants to be. The recruitment process itself is often a barrier with individuals who have a learning disability unable to compete in the open market. So, we provided working interviews instead of the traditional panel interview allowing both the individual and recruiting manager to ensure they were the right person for the job. This could involve work trials for up to a month and, if successful, the individuals were offered the job and if not they were given feedback. Ways Into Work provided the specialist support to match the right individual to the role, and ensure that the person and their manager received ongoing, on-the-job support needed to succeed, while continuing to promote natural support and relationships. Ways Into Work has been able to market this successful model to other local employers, who are now benefiting from the recruitment of individuals with a learning disability. These include Eton College, Maidenhead and District Housing Association, Windsor Housing Association, Turnstone Support and Legoland Windsor, to name but a few. This is a simple model that was born through a performance indicator and has created a culture change, and demonstrates that when supported, employment and HR work together. Even during the current economic downturn opportunities can be found to make a positive difference to both the organisation and individuals lives. We would encourage any organisation to look at all job vacancies to see how these could be carved to create an opportunity for someone with a learning disability and you can also benefit from the diversity and talent these individuals have brought to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Examples of employment for people with a learning disability can be viewed on a short DVD. Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRvqkGMYWDM

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WHITEHALL

The MJ Awards 2010 Diversity Achievement of the Year Winner

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