Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Paragraph: 67
It is unacceptable that some disabled people still face barriers when trying to access services...
Conclusion
It is unacceptable that some disabled people still face barriers when trying to access services through Jobcentre Plus. It is particularly shocking that services provided by the Department for Work and Pensions, whose ministerial team includes the Minister for Disabled People and which is responsible for a significant proportion of the Government’s work on disability, remain inaccessible to some disabled people. We welcome the fact that the Department is now consulting on what improvements it can make to its provision of reasonable adjustments and alternative formats, but it should act as a beacon of best practice on accessibility for the rest of government. To achieve this, it must ensure that both its premises and services are wholly accessible to disabled people. The Department should invest in and expand its provision of alternative formats for its communications with disabled people. It should ensure that BSL interpreters are provided at all meetings with Deaf clients who need one and that other accessible formats—such as large print, Braille and Easy Read—are readily available for people that need them.
Paragraph Reference:
67
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
As planned, in October 2021 Government entered private live testing of an early version of a service to support employers managing health and disability in the workplace. This is designed to help prevent avoidable job loss on grounds of health or disability, by addressing knowledge and skills gaps of employers (especially small businesses, who are less likely to have in-house HR support, or to use OH services). This is being developed directly with SME employers, to meet their needs to bring relevant information together to reduce search and navigation challenges and providing information in a format which is easy to understand and act upon. This will include information on legal obligations and mental health. Over the coming weeks we will use employer feedback from the private live testing stage to refine the service, before, subject to test findings, entering a wider phase of public live testing. Again, subject to findings and funding, we expect to continue to develop the service, adding and iterating features in response to employer feedback. The service links to information from multiple Government domains and we are working collaboratively with our cross-Government ‘service community’ (health and work content and policy leads in other departments and Arm’s Length Bodies) to develop this service and improve the overall information landscape. The Disability Confident scheme provides access to a range of advice, guidance, case- studies, and videos that can support employers to understand how they can better support disabled people in the workplace. As announced in the National Disability Strategy, Acas have recently launched a ‘Disability at Work’ page which contains clear, accessible information and advice on employment rights for disabled people – from reasonable adjustments to discrimination in the workplace. https://www.acas.org.uk/disability-at-work Access to Work