- TUC
Disabled employees, including workers who become disabled after being injured at work, are badly placed when they apply for jobs, says the TUC. It has published Jobs for Disabled People, which describes measures which, if adopted, could rectify this.
It has in mind 'a combination of preventative safety measures, encouraging employers to make more of an effort to hold on to disabled employees and specialist employment advice to disabled jobseekers'. It observes that few UK employers have proper rehabilitation policies, as a consequence many employees don't get the chance to return to work again.
TUC would like the Government to further promote the Access to Work scheme which gives financial help to employers who face extra costs because they employ disabled workers.

Comment:
'Half the battle in getting more disabled people into work is overcoming employer prejudice. When recruiting staff, many employers simply ignore job applicants with a history of long term sickness or who are on Incapacity Benefit.
The national rolling out of the Pathways to Work scheme should increase the numbers of disabled people who are helped into work, and making employers work harder to keep staff who become ill or who are injured at work on their books would also make a real difference.' - TUC General Secretary.