Young care leavers are struggling to secure employment once they leave care as they are not receiving adequate support, according to a Salford charity.
You Can works with young people age 13-25 and aims to open up opportunities for young people living with a learning or physical disability.
However, the charity says many of its members are being shut out of work due to a “difficult” online application process, meaning many fail to secure paid employment.
Gaynor, area youth manager at You Can, said: “It’s difficult once they get to 25 and leave us – there’s nobody else picking up that support.
“Once of the things we find really difficult now is going onto the computer and filling in an application. Everything is online now. Even to type up a CV, it’s difficult for some of the members that we have.
“I don’t know of any other organisations like us and I don’t think there’s many other provisions, especially if you are 25 or above, there’s not a lot.”
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According to a recent survey by Mencap, the UK’s leading learning disability charity, inaccessible application forms are preventing three in 10 people from finding employment.
The survey, which collected results from 1,625 working age adults across the UK, found that 62 per cent of people with a learning disability wanted to work, but 29 per cent find it difficult to fill in an application form.
Mencap survey of 1,625 adults with a learning disability discovers 29% of those unemployed found it difficult to fill in application forms preventing them from getting a job and says online-only application forms and formal interviews are closing the door https://t.co/80htXjt8Iq
— Axis HR Consulting (@axishrcons) November 19, 2019
The NHS and Office for National Statistics say that just 6 per cent of people with a learning disability, known to local authority, are in paid employment.
Children’s services have a duty to support someone until the age of 21, or 25 if in full-time education or have a disability.
In 2017, the Children and Social Work Act was introduced to provide support to all care leavers up to the age of 25.
But You Can say barriers remain once they cross that threshold, and instead work to to help young find alternative routes into employment.
Jillian Pollit, youth worker at You Can said: “We try to do work around preparing them for when they leave the club, so looking around for jobs, CV building, ICT skills, and we also take on some of our members as volunteers.
“A lot of the young people that come to us don’t have confidence, they struggle in mainstream settings, so they tend to come to us because it’s catered around their needs.”
“The aim is to help build their confidence, the understanding of what it means to be in a job role, the responsibilities that you have, everything that goes with adult life we try to prepare them for.”
Currently, there are 1.5 million people in the UK with a learning disability.
You Can aims to show that people with a learning disability can work and make good employees and puts on projects throughout the year to help open doors and create greater access to recruitment opportunities for people living with a disability.
Click here for more information on the charity
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