Employment is a very important part of life.

When people have a job, they feel part of society, they have a purpose, make new friends plus have money in their pockets to buy the things they want!

Many people think that people with learning disabilities can’t work and have low expectations about what they are able to achieve. This is wrong.We need to change how people think so that many more people with learning disabilities get a job, and we need to make sure people with learning disabilities understand they will be better off with work.

People with learning disabilities should have the same rights and opportunities as everybody else.

The government is doing things to make it easier for people with learning disabilities to get real jobs, but the numbers of adults with a learning disability in work is still too low.
There are opportunities in education to follow an education pathway that will support you in to work. All young people should be following a study programmes from the age of 16.

This gives opportunities for work experience, supported internships, traineeships and supported apprenticeships which can provide pathways to employment for people with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities need to believe they can work and should expect to get a paid job, just like other people. Otherwise, real equality will not happen.

Full-time work

Most people with learning disabilities will get more money in a full-time job than if they do not work and are on benefits.
Those who work 16 hours or more a week are said to be working full-time.People will have more money in a full-time job because they will normally get National Minimum Wage and may be able to apply for other benefits too.

Help and Advice

It is always important to get support and advice about your benefits to make sure that you will be better off. There is lots of information on the Gov.uk website about which benefits you might be able to apply for.

There are lots of ways you can get help and information and your local offer and SENDIAS should be able to help too.

There are lots of resources on the preparing for adulthood website under the employment pages including the following:

• Employment is Everyone’s Business
• Routes into work guide
• Supported Internship guidance
• Work experience works!

About Preparing for Adulthood

Funded by Department for Education (DfE), the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) manage the preparing for adulthood programme to provide expertise and support to local authorities and their partners to embed preparing for adulthood from the earliest years. We work to ensure that young people with SEND achieve paid employment, independent living, housing options, good health, friendships, relationships and community inclusion.