Interim findings of an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey released in December highlight the barriers to employment and opportunities faced in the UK by people with impairments. The Life Opportunities survey focuses on social barriers to participation, with findings indicating that far more disabled people (56%) than non-disabled people (26%) face restricted access to paid employment. Higher barriers were also found for access to transport, education and leisure, social and cultural activities. Modified hours or days or reduced working hours was found to be the most common enabler for improving employment prospects for adults with impairments.
A new recruitment site has been launched which focuses on matching older, more experienced executives with retail positions. The UK economy remains favourable to youth over experience, despite Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures highlighting that 80% of over 55s and 60% of over 60s now choose to work. Grey4Gold, founded by former Moss Bros CEO Rowland Gee, deals with the untapped resource that the older working population has provided and seeks to find retail positions for experienced individuals. The initiative has the full backing of both government and senior retail executives.
The big accountancy and professional service firms are stepping up their support for school leavers by creating new A Level entry roles. Business advisory firm Deloitte is creating 100 new roles for individuals as part of their Bright Start A Level entry scheme. Elsewhere, applications for PwC’s HEADStart A Level entry programme rose 25% this year signalling that many young students are choosing this alternative route to kick start their careers. Individuals taking this path can achieve a full, professional business qualification quicker than their university counterparts, whilst earning and avoiding increasing student debt.
UK government promotes positive action against inequality
Under the government’s new Equality Strategy, announced on 2 December, companies will be able to take ‘positive action’ to ensure a balanced mix of employees. Candidates from under-represented groups, including ethnic minorities, homosexuals and people with disabilities, can be favoured under this approach when up against an equally competent candidate. Positive discrimination, where someone is employed simply because of their ethnicity, gender or sexuality, remains illegal. The government states how this approach represents a move “away from the identity politics of the past to an approach that recognises people’s individuality”.
New research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and KPMG suggests that three quarters of employers have not hired from disadvantaged groups, including the young, old or ex-offenders, in the last three years. The ‘ Disadvantaged groups in the labour market’ report also finds that one third of employers actively exclude against one or more disadvantaged groups, with ex-offenders excluded outright by 19% of employers. Gerwyn Davies, CIPD public policy adviser, has opined that the extent of exclusion is often not justified by the potential of the target group and those employing ex-offenders consider them to be as productive as – and often more loyal – than the rest of the workforce.
Contact: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
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