Supply and Demand for Supported Employment

The Supported Employment Programme, run by the Employment Service, aimed to provide jobs for people with severe disabilities, either in factories run by Supported Employment providers or in Supported Placements in host companies.

Conditions of eligibility for the scheme were that employees should be capable of achieving between 30 per cent and 80 per cent of the output of a non-disabled employee doing the same or similar work.

Places on the programme were maintained at a broadly constant level in the late 90s, providing employment opportunities for around 22,000 severely disabled people at a cost of around £154 million.

Commissioned by the Department for Education and Employment, this research provided estimates, using a variety of data sources, of the extent to which the supply of Supported Employment opportunities matched actual and potential demand on a geographical basis. The research also estimated future demand for places.