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Working lives: the role of day centres in supporting people with learning disabilities into employment
- Authors:
- BEYER Stephen, et al
- Publisher:
- Corporate Document Services; Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 161p.
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
The qualitative research took place in nine Local Authorities across England, to obtain the perspectives of users of day services, their carers, managers and staff of days services, and managers of employment-related providers, both within the Local Authority and independent of it. Key findings include: the majority of people interviewed who worked were paid. Most people earned only the minimum wage or just above; most people worked for less than five hours per week, some worked five to 15 hours, and a small minority worked more than 16 hours; carers were more critical of day services than were people with learning disabilities; carers views on employment varied widely, but many carers were powerful advocates for employment. Many carers we talked to valued work highly and felt that being employed was beneficial to their relative; day centres varied greatly in the emphasis they placed on achieving paid employment outcomes. Some focused on employment and understood good practice in the area, while other were imprecise about how their activities helped people to get jobs; it is easier for people to find and stay in work if they receive specifically targeted support in which employment of their choice is assumed to be a goal; evidence suggests that a comprehensive range of work exploration, work placement and support services are required to help a greater number of people into paid jobs; the reason people work few hours is mainly due to the perceived and potentially real loss of earnings due to Income Support rules which acts as a disincentive, rather than due to limits deriving from health and support needs.