GOVERNMENT plans to phase out specialist jobs for disabled people could leave them unable to find other work, a North East MP has warned.
Ministers plan to end special employment for the disabled and replace it with priority treatment in the general jobs market.
Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery today expects to learn the fate of the North East’s five Remploy factories, which employ 173 disabled workers, and fears the worst.
The Sayce Review, led by Liz Sayce, chief executive of disability charity Radar, says support for segregated employment for the disabled should be phased out in favour of helping them get – and keep – jobs in the general labour market.
A three-month national consultation process ended yesterday and Mr Lavery told The Journal: “It will be an absolute disgrace if these factories are to close and adequate provision isn’t made to find the people in them alternative employment.
“If you put these people on the unemployment register they are just not going to get a job.
“In Wansbeck, for example, there is an unemployment rate of twice the national average. What chance do disabled people have of getting work in those circumstances?
“I will wait and see what the consultation says – I am hoping that there will be something positive there for the people who are employed at Remploy. But failing that, there has to be some adequate provision for them in terms of equal opportunities.”
Remploy units in Ashington, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and Spennymoor provide work for 173 disabled people, some of whom have worked there for over 20 years.
Remploy was set up after the Second World War to provide specialist disability employment. Figures indicate that each of the 2,500 employees in 54 factories nationwide are subsidised to the tune of £25,000.
Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, said the Sayce Review recommendations would have a “significant impact” on how support is delivered.
While the wide-ranging public consultation was carried out, Mr Lavery urged a cross-party campaign to save the Remploy workers.
But he said yesterday: “The backing is from the Labour Party only.
“Once the Government decides on the Sayce Report, the coalition parties will simply line up behind it.
“At the moment the Remploy factories are totally under-funded – there hasn’t been much emphasis placed on the fact that these people are disabled. I’ve spoken to the workers at Ashington and Newcastle and everyone I’ve spoken to said they didn’t think they would get a job elsewhere because of the disabilities they have.
“Some of them have worked for over 20 years in the same place – they feel valued and at home where they are. But now they don’t know what the future holds.”
