Improving employment opportunities and promoting economic and social inclusion for disabled people is a key priority for many Governments. In the UK the success of the Government's new strategy to improve opportunities for disabled people in all areas of life, including work, depends on the extent to which employers are able to attract and retain suitable disabled candidates.

Disability is a significant economic issue for any Government:

• Disability benefits on average account for more than 10% of social spending. In the Netherlands, Norway and Poland they amount to as much as 20% of social expenditure[i]

• 15% of British Households receive incapacity benefits or disablement benefits, 2.8m disabled people are out of work and claiming benefits[ii]

• 6% of the EU population are receiving a disability benefit; Disability payments account for 8% of EU countries social protection expenditure. [iii]

• In the US, the federal government spent $213 billion in 2002 to support working age people with disabilities and their dependents...the equivalent of 10.6% of all federal outlays and 2% of the nation's GDP. State Governments spent another $44 billion.'[iv]

• In Canada the Government spent $7.5 billion on disability in 2003-04.[v]

Working in partnership with the Government

Partnership between the Government, employers and disabled people helps to create a positive environment promoting the mutual benefit of business and disabled people.

Disability confident business will be well placed to help shift the status-quo towards a more sustainable and flexible labour market. Employers pioneering the business led ‘Recruitment that works' process, which provides job-preparation training and carefully matches candidates to vacancies, have achieved high rates of retention in hard to fill positions and helped create a net economic benefit of £6,548 for every individual.[vi]

If the one million disabled people now supported by incapacity benefit, who say they want to work, were helped to find jobs over the next decade, Britain would save £7 billion in benefits[vii] and make unquantified productivity gains.

In a number of cases, Recruitment That Works has been originally used by employers operating in tight employment markets where labour turnover has been high. In other cases, employers have been looking to ensure that the workforce is a better representation of the community in which they are located or is better reflective of the customer base they provide services to. In all cases Recruitment That Works has enabled the employer to review the accessibility of their recruitment processes in they way they attract candidates and select them.

For every job entrant, the programme offers a net exchequer benefit of £3,435, and a net economic benefit of £6,548. The economic benefits come from the increased incomes of those leaving benefit and going into work as well as the profits gained by firms through increased employment.

Sources

1. [i] (Banks J, Kapteyn A, Smith JP, van Soest AHO. International comparisons of work disability. Tilberg University 2004:43)
2. [ii] Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005
3. [iii] ‘Has the employment rate of people with disabilities declined?' Stapleton, Burkhauser, Houtenville, Cornell ILR, December 2004
4. [iv] ‘Has the employment rate of people with disabilities declined?' Stapleton, Burkhauser, Houtenville, Cornell ILR, December 2004
5. [v]
6. [vi] Recruitment that Works analysis, TRIPOD report, 2005
7. [vii] John Hutton, speaking in the House of Commons, 24 January 2006, Hansard.