The Work project is part of our work on Early Intervention. Its aims, project updates and group members can be found below.
Aims
To improve the work prospects of disabled people (including people with neurological conditions*, and other hidden impairments such as mental health conditions) to find, retain and progress in work.
Project Summary
This project started in July 2015, and had a fantastic number of volunteers to join the group. Membership is currently closed, as we have 22 members, though you can still express your interest to join and be added to a waiting list.
The project’s objectives are to improve the work prospects of the above group to find, retain and progress in work, by using the expertise and experience of project members to:
- Collate evidence of what disabled people say supports them effectively,
- Identifying and then filling gaps in evidence, &
- Share this evidence base with our target audiences, (identified as disabled people themselves, employers and providers of work-related support for disabled people), celebrating good practice where possible.
This will be taken forward in two strands, one short-term project and one longer-term:
- Short-term project – to work collaboratively with DWP to provide them with evidence of what disabled people and disabled people’s organisations feel best supports them into and in work, to inform future support provision development.
- Longer-term project – to build a publicly available, online, accessible database that brings together evidence of what disabled people feel best supports them to find, retain and progress in work. This will include new evidence collected by project members.
Latest updates
September 2015 – A mini strand of this project provided DWP with some information (including links to evidence) on 30th September to assist with future employment support service design.
August/September 2015 – Due to a fantastic response for members to join the group. The membership has been closed at present, as there are 22 members on this group. Anyone who is interested in joining can be added to our list to be contacted should a space become available.
August 2015 – A second project meeting took place on 11th August. It considered the initial ideas suggested during the first meeting, and what is measurable and achievable as the group is large. There is a possibility of feeding into some DWP early policy development.
July 2015 – The first project meeting took place on 22nd July for members to meet each other and to discuss a projects proposal.
Members
Chair: Andy Rickell – ADWUK
Members:
Adrian Cummins – Dyslexia London
Ann Johnson / Lauren Jones – Wave-length Social Marketing CIC
Cam Nicholl – Digital Accessibility Centre
Carol Pearson – Surrey Coalition
Charlie Willis – Independent Lives
Chris Smith – Disabled Golf Association
Dan Sumners / Jim Edwards – Signature
Elcena Jeffers – Elcena Jeffers Foundation
Jacqueline Winstanley – Equality by Design
Jane Hatton – Evenbreak
Julie-Jaye Charles – Equalities National Council
Kevin Keenan – DWP
Leys Geddes / Norbert Lieckfeldt – British Stammering Association
Liz Sayce – DRUK
Matt Boyd – Exceptional Individuals
Naomi Marek – Sky Badger
Penny Melville-Brown – Disability Dynamics
Sarah Yiannoullou – NSUN Network for Mental Health
Stephanie Harvey – DAA, Office for Disability Issues
Stephen Brookes – Disability Hate Crime Network
Theresa Hodge – SENDPO
Tina Lannin – 121 Captions Ltd