Learning/intellectual disability and autism: transformation plan

Employment

Employment helps people to feel valued - opportunities and choices to work are important for everyone. It is estimated that the employment rate for people with learning/intellectual disabilities is 7% and 16% for autistic people compared with Scotland's national employment rate of 73%. The pandemic will have made this worse. The Scottish Government is reviewing the current schemes that help autistic people and people with a learning/intellectual disability to successfully obtain and keep a job.

We are excluded from the world of work. We want support to find work and hold down a job so we can contribute to society, just like everyone else.

What we will do

Action 20 - The Scottish Government will continue to work towards our ambition to at least halve the disability employment gap as stated in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People andA Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan.

Action 21 - The Scottish Government will ensure that the voices of autistic people and people with learning/intellectual disabilities are heard and a meaningful and important part of the decision making in the review of supported employment provision across Scotland. Supported Employment plays an important part in helping people into work who would otherwise struggle to gain employment in the open labour market. As such, it is a model that can make an important contribution to the ambition to at least halve the disability employment gap in Scotland, and will be more important than ever as part of our COVID-19 recovery efforts. The review is taking place in the first quarter of 2021 with the final report due in the summer of 2021.