Introduction

This chapter considers the position of people with learning difficulties in relation to the open labour market. Access to employment is critical to the achievement of social inclusion and access to lifelong learning, since, in addition to the financial benefits of working, many people derive their social networks from their workplace. This is also the site for much formal and informal learning (Coffield, 1999, 2000). Whereas 62% of the total working-age population are ‘economically active’ (either in employment or unemployed according to the Independent Labour Organisation definition used in the Labour Force Survey), only 40% of the total disabled population of working age are economically active. According to Sly's (1996) analysis of Labour Force Survey data for winter 1995, only 28% of people with severe or specific learning difficulties and 15% of those with long-term mental illness are economically active. Of the 60% of the disabled population who are economically inactive (for example, on long-term Incapacity Benefit or Income Support with Severe Disablement Allowances) a very high proportion have learning difficulties. Access to mainstream employment opportunities with its financial and social benefits is thus a pressing concern for people with learning difficulties. This chapter concentrates on the minority of individuals within our case study sample who were employed, with or without support, within the open labour market, exploring the barriers they had encountered, the circumstances which supported their ability to work and the unintended consequences of these support mechanisms.

While some aspects of the New Labour government's Welfare to Work programme has attracted censure because of its coercive elements, the New Deal for Disabled People has had a generally positive reception from the disability movement. This is largely due to the disability movement's understanding of employment that tends to support the government's emphasis on employment as the chief route out of poverty. Having outlined some theories of disability and employment, the paper describes post-war employment and benefits policies and their impact on the employment status of people with learning difficulties. Subsequently, the evolution of the Employment Service's Wage Subsidy Supported Employment scheme is considered. This programme is particularly significant because it reflects clearly the shifting direction of post-war employment policy for disabled people.