Aspiration and specialist support are key to young disabled people thriving in the workplace, says Lords committee

Today, the House of Lords Public Services Committee publishes its report, ‘Think Work First: the transition from education to work for young disabled people'.  The report concludes that young disabled people yearn to work and to thrive in their careers but far too many are written off and told that ‘people like them' can never succeed.

We have to change this:  We have to start with the presumption that young disabled people are fully capable of thriving in work, as long as they have the appropriate support. Aspiration and ambition have to be at the heart of this support. At every stage of the young disabled person's development, and in all of the services they interact with, from nurseries and schools to job centres and employers, we have to Think Work First.

Disabled people face continuous barriers to securing long-term employment. This starts from the moment a young disabled person enters nursery school and continues through their preparation for work and their transition from education to employment. The report finds that innovative and exceptional services do exist and are achieving outstanding results, but far too many systems and services lack resources, aspiration and expertise. Similarly, some employers are doing outstanding work to make their workplaces accessible and inclusive but far too many disabled people still face discrimination both during recruitment and in the workplace. The new Government needs to focus on early support and intervention, ensuring that young disabled people can access and then remain in work once they leave education. It must also work with employers to ensure they have the tools and support they need to create inclusive workplaces and uphold the rights of disabled people.

Other significant findings and key recommendations from the report include:

• Co-production: It is vital that young disabled people – both those that are yet to leave education and those who have already made the transition – are able to be fully involved in helping to design and shape the services that support them.

• Vocational profiling: This is a particularly effective way of identifying a young disabled person's aspirations from an early age and can help schools and colleges to put the right careers support in place from the start. The Government should make vocational profiling a standard part of careers information, advice and guidance for young disabled people in schools.

• Joined up support: To bridge the gap from education to employment and provide the best chance of career success, young disabled people must have ongoing access to continuous, joined up support from the day they start school at least until they are in secure employment. The Government should work with local authorities to improve the availability of 'ready to work' programmes, such as that provided by ThinkForward, to support young people from school until they are settled in work.

• Supported internships: Supported internships are a highly effective way to give those furthest from the job market experience of the workplace and help them to enter the workforce. They also go a long way to helping employers to address cultural and practical barriers to employing disabled people. The new Government should honour the commitment of the previous Government to double the number of supported internships and take steps to make as many young disabled people as possible eligible for them: not just those with Education, Health and Care Plans. Internships should be particularly targeted at those with the highest support needs.

• Education: The education system is simply not delivering for young people with special educational needs. A vital element of the support for young disabled people in education is the Education, Health and Care Plan (ECHP). These help young disabled people to access essential educational support and are also a prerequisite for accessing certain employment programmes. However, the current system makes simply obtaining an EHCP extremely difficult, let alone accessing the support that the EHCP specifies. Neither does it adequately support the schools and local authorities expected to deliver this support.  The Government must review and improve the support that young disabled people receive while in education, and it must also properly support local authorities to deliver EHCPs, both in terms of application timelines and the robustness of decision-making.

• Careers advice: Many of the young disabled people who spoke to the Committee highlighted the poor careers advice they had received, and the Committee heard evidence from several witnesses of a lack of a systemic, specialised approach to training careers advisers working with young disabled people. The Government should review the training that careers advisers and leaders are expected to receive, making in-depth special educational needs training mandatory.

The report also urges increased awareness of the workplace rights of disabled people both among disabled people themselves and among employers. It highlights the urgent need to put in place the systems and structures necessary to tackle and remedy workplace discrimination. The Government is expected to respond to the report's recommendations by 15 December, and the Committee have requested progress reports on the implementation of its recommendations from March 2025 onwards.

Baroness Morris of Yardley, Chair of the Public Services Committee said:

“There are many excellent innovative schemes tackling the barriers that young disabled people face when trying to enter the workplace and helping them to make the transition from education to employment. However, we found that these are the exception rather than the rule and this has to change. The good practice we have identified must become the norm and should continue to be developed and improved to meet the specific needs of young disabled people. 

“This report provides a blueprint for the new Government to implement its commitment to getting more young disabled people into work. It highlights how to put in place appropriate support for young disabled people and employers so that the system is both cohesive and effective.   

“We've asked the Government to provide us with regular updates on its progress with implementing our recommendations, and we look forward to receiving its response to this report. We want to see positive changes in the form of planned programmes and demonstrable actions not only to get young disabled people into the workplace, but to ensure they can thrive in their jobs, develop successful, sustainable careers, and realise their full potential.”