SUSE aims to be a centre of excellence for supported employment in Scotland, improving the quality of services, leading on research and innovation and developing a skilled workforce that can tackle the Disability Employment Gap. Our organisation not only advocates for disabled jobseekers or those with long-term conditions, but also creates a space for practitioners to come together to learn, share and develop, as well as working with employers, funders and policy makers to promote the supported employment model.
Why Our Work is Needed
There are over 100,000 people in Scotland who have a disability or long term condition who want to work. Our members are working with thousands of jobseekers and employers across Scotland to improve this situation.
Latest figures (Dec 2022) show the employment rate of disabled people is only 50% compared to 82% for their non-disabled peers – this is the Disability Employment Gap.
- Learning disability employment rate in Scotland is only around 4% (2019).
- In a 2022 Mencap survey, 70% of those interviewed said they would like to be in paid employment.
- Mencap also found that cost of employing people with a learning disability was cost neutral and the average cost of adaptations was £75 per person (a survey of over 2000 employers).
- Just 29% of autistic adults in the UK are in employment (2021 ONS).
- 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. 1 in 3 people in Scotland. The cost of poor mental health to the economy is estimated at £74-£99 billion each year.
- 32% of people with mental illness are in work. 80% would like to be.
- 1 in 8 adults of working age in the UK have a hearing loss.
- Only 37% of people who report BSL as their main language are working.
- 2 million people in the UK are living with a sight loss. It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to over four million.
- 40% of people with a sight loss are working age.
- The employment rate for blind and partially sighted people is the same as it was in 1991, and there has been no overall change in a generation (RNIB).
- Disabled people typically earn 8% less than their non-disabled peers.
Our Priorities
We bring disabled jobseekers, providers and employers together to promote equality and diversity, network, pilot new services and move disabled people into work.
- Making sure every jobseeker has a quality service that meets their needs and our members have the tools and resources they need to be successful.
- Hosting an annual conference and regular events that create opportunities for disabled jobseekers, our members and employers.
- Providing information and guidance for jobseekers and employers.
- Providing expert advice for members and an opportunity to lobby and have their voices heard.
- Sharing best practice, learning and the latest research.
- Developing the skilled workforce our sector needs.
- Hosting an online community and information service.
Click on the links above to find information on our current programmes and projects, in particular the Apt Public Social Partnership (PSP), along with some of our previous projects. Here you will also find links to a wide range of programmes and services which support employers, and disabled people and people with long term conditions into work.
