June 2011
What: Publication of “Getting In, Staying In and Getting On: Disability Employment Support Fit for the Future”, a review to government by Liz Sayce (at the time the chief executive of the disabled people’s organisation RADAR). The review recommends an end to government subsidies for loss-making, sheltered Remploy factories and greater investment in the Access to Work scheme, which provides disability support within the workplace.
Why significant: The review split the disabled people’s movement, with many disabled campaigners arguing that segregated employment should be phased out, while others were furious that the plans would lead to as many as 2,000 disabled people losing their jobs. They later argued that the review provided political cover for the government to present its welfare reform agenda as progressive in the early years of the coalition government, while causing significant harm to disabled people.