Case studies on employment of people with disabilities in small and medium sized enterprises

United Kingdom WP/97/83/EN EUROPEAN FOUNDATION for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions EUROPEAN FOUNDATION for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions CASE STUDIES ON EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES UNITED KINGDOM by Anne Corden and Patricia Thornton of Social Policy Research Unit, University of York October 1997 EUROPEAN FOUNDATION for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU), The University of York, Heslington, UK - York YO1 5DD. Tel.: Fax: E-mail: 44 1904 433 608 44 1904 433 618 SPRU@york.ac.uk II EUROPEAN FOUNDATION for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions FOREWORD In 1995, the Administrative Board of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions launched a project on "Employment of People with Disabilities". A Coordination Group was set up to develop the project with representatives from European employers, workers, governments and the European Commission. This Coordination Group proposed focusing the research on the barriers and facilitating factors affecting employers in SMEs when hiring people with disabilities. Special attention was given not only to factual situations but also to perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of the actors involved. A case-study approach was adopted. This would allow for identification of the process of recruitment, selection and career development of people with disabilities employed in SMEs. Moreover, through interviews with employers, employees and others, the qualitative and subjective issues related to this process could be grasped. The Coordination Group was aware from the beginning of the limitations involved with a casestudy approach, nevertheless, it was considered the most appropriate to the goals of the project. The research aimed to produce new insights and hypotheses to be tested by future research and in this it has been successful. Generalisation of the results within national or European contexts was not an objective of the project. The research covered seven Member States. Common guidelines for the production of the national reports were developed to facilitate comparisons and for the writing of the European report. Nonetheless, allowances had to be made for the different national situations. The UK report is a clear example of this: which required considerable persistence by the British researchers to identify appropriate cases for the study. The field work in the UK was done in just one local labour market from October 1996 to January 1997. The report should be read with such constraints in mind. The Foundation is grateful to all who have contributed to the final version of this report: to the au