Four Takeaway Wins For Disabled People, From The UK Government Green Paper

4 Takeaway Wins For Disabled People, From The UK Government Green Paper

"The Access to Work system is broken—our community knows it, and we’ve been advocating for change for over a decade. This Green Paper signals a chance to fix a failing system and move towards a more inclusive, effective approach. There is a lot to play for, and we are ambitious for our community—because when disabled people thrive, we all win."

Dr. Nancy Doyle, Founder of Genius Within CIC

In response to the Green paper and announcement from the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Genius Within CIC comments on the Access to Work grant system.

We know the current Access to Work system is broken. We know, because we support thousands of neurodivergent individuals every year, and they tell us. Our experience is a system that is full of red tape, is (ironically) inaccessible, confusing and makes individuals wait – often a long time – before approving their Access to Work grant. We know the system must change, it isn’t serving the community it was first designed to support when it was set up in 1994, and change is something we have been advocating for the last 10 years.

Recently, it has been a vicious cycle. The narratives around the news have been cautious at best and fearful at worst – British employees have had a hard decade with low wage growth and falling healthcare standard – we can’t take another hit.

So, charting a path between these seemingly opposing considerations is tough and we’ve yet to see the impact of changes to assessments and thresholds.

The disability community has been blamed and under attack for a long time now, we are weary.

Ever the optimist, we believe the Access to Work system can work, and we’ve outlined four takeaway wins which we think we can get behind:

1. Right to Try – this is good psychology. Removing the existential threat to shelter and food, for the sake of trying different employment paths will be absolutely transformational for many disabled people.

2. More Onus on Employers – moving away from focus on employees to supporting employers. This means we have a chance to move away from the reactive approach of support “one person at a time” and towards supported systemic change, more cost effective and better for more staff. Support for the SME population of businesses would really make a massive impact.

3. Access to Work system reform – in general we see this as a positive. The system currently is broken as outlined in the green paper itself. There is an invite for voices to the consultation, and we invite our community to contribute. This is an opportunity to review this system, which many have been openly critical of in the past. We need more standards, more focus on being connected to positive employment outcomes, with some standard, reassurance and guarantees of quality.

4. One Billion Allocated for Disability Employability Support – this is a significant investment in support for people who are long term unemployed and excluded from the labour market. This is more that the initial investment in New Deal for Disabled People in the last Labour Government. This stands a chance, given the scale of the problem we face. Employability Support Coaching has a proven track record, it is cost effective, and it works – and it is possible for this to be incredibly effective if done well.

On balance, research indicates that good work, where possible, is beneficial to health, wellbeing and social identity. Now there are a lot of caveats in this paper, the potential for both improvement and harm, but accessibility and participation could make the difference we seek.

Nearly three million people unable to work due to disability is shocking. This is marginalization and, in many cases, unnecessary.

We need to find some levers to switch from the vicious cycle to the virtuous circle.

These four takeaways show that there is a lot to play for and the opportunity to make some change.

We are ambitious for our community.

We want them to be supported to reach their dreams and meet their potential.

Because then we all win.

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For media requests, interviews, or to learn more please contact

Jacqui Wallis, CEO, Genius Within

Jacqui@Geniuswithin.org

07773 764 974

Dr Nancy Doyle

Nancy@Geniuswithin.org

About Genius Within

Genius Within is a Community Interest Company, a non-for-profit, B-Corp certified organisation, that specialise in promoting neurodiversity inclusion in the workplace, since 2011.

Genius Within promotes systemic change, right across the world, in governments, social systems, and throughout organisations.

Founded in 2011 by Dr Nancy Doyle, Genius Within CIC have worked across the commercial, employability and criminal justice sectors adding social value, improved job outcomes and workplace performance for the neurodivergent community. They lead the way in innovative approaches and have created the Genius Finder™; a digital platform that scales neuroinclusion by supporting individuals and organisations in improving workplace performance by through improved understanding of their most common work-related strengths and struggles.

Web: geniuswithin.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/genius-within-cic