Getting A Life Beth Peal Medway Learning Disability Partnership Board Co-ordinator
Dec 28, 2015
What is the Getting A Life Project?
• Valuing People Now • Valuing Employment Now
• Was set up to find out why young people with learning disabilities do not move into adulthood with jobs and the lives they want.
How the Getting A Life project works?
• Getting A Life national team worked with 12 places around the country to find out about the problems about employment and to solve them.
• Each Getting a Life place worked with
30 young people (between 14-25 years) and their families.
• Free training was given to all sites (included family leadership sessions, person centred reviews, inclusion web training)
Who was involved in Medway?
• Abbey Court School• Bradfeilds School• Mid Kent College• Medway Youth Trust• Job Centre Plus• Department Work and
Pensions• Families• Shout Out• Medway Council• Sunlight Development Trust
Self-Directed Support Co-ordinator
• The Getting A Life project had it’s own Self-Directed Support worker.
• Worked across Children and Adult Services.
• Met with families on individual and group basis.
• Really helped to keep families and young people focused on getting a paid job.
Project Lead By Example
• Employed a person with learning disabilities for 16 hours a week. ‘Real job’
• Really important – – Gave project important experience of
employing (including using Access to Work funding) a person with moderate learning disabilities.
– Showed what was possible to people - employment.
– Helped us deal with project risk.
3 things worked well project in Medway
• Really high take-up of Direct Payments by families in project
• Person centred reviews developing in schools
• Close link and feedback into with Aiming High
4 things that worked not so well
• Low aspirations of families and organisations about employment
• Difficulties supporting good work experience
• Access to Work – really difficult for people with learning disabilities to access
• People choosing not to work
Main message 1
• Nobody wants to swap funding from leisure activities (e.g. ‘accessing the community’, swimming, short break, café trips, holidays, disco, day opportunities) for paid work.
• ‘Jobs First’ message.
Main message 2
Most families we worked with in Medway had very little expectation their son/daughter would ever work.
Medway needs a plan to support people with moderate and profound learning disability from an early age through to adulthood.
Main message 3
• Families need good self-directed support and Direct Payment advice throughout their life (not just in adulthood).
• Self-directed support workers really help families think differently about work and using a person’s gifts and talents.
Main message 4
• If there is no target towards paid work then work ‘is often forgotten.
• So it is even harder to get a paid job.
Main message 5 - Access to Work Fund
• Very complicated
• Being reviewed
• Currently only fund job coaches for 6 months
• Doesn’t support the business case.