closure of remploy

[southeastastra]

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18001795\here}

the government say it isn't making money

how low will they go? am getting so sick of this heartless country

me too!! they just don't understand that there is more worth in some things than making money. Ok it then has to be subsidised but surely the benefits of people being in work in an environment where people can work at their own pace and ability is much more important than profit.
Do the government really believe that in the current climate their are enough supported jobs available??

it's so depressing

Didn't they announce this months ago?

was on news today

The same money spent keeping Remploy going, when reassigned, can get ten times the number of people into work placements. Isn't that preferable?

nope, they have jobs now

"The same money spent keeping Remploy going, when reassigned, can get ten times the number of people into work placements. Isn't that preferable?"

I think you fail to understand what Remploy is. Remploy is for people who are unemployable because of disablity. Work placements are for the non disabled who are capable of true work. Also there is an issue with work placements that they become slave labour and big companies prefer to have a string of people on "work placements" than actually employ someone.

The arguement against Rempoly is that its more expensive than having someone on disablity benefits costs less than Remploy. However Remploy gives a disabled person dignity and helps their mental health.

It's the idea that the only way to run a business is to turn a profit that is so wrong. What will happen to the people who work here is unimportant to IDS. Whether they spend the rest of their lives failing to secure employment, with no income, a dismantled welfare system doesn't matter. That meaningful work is irrelevant.

Something similar happened recently to a social enterprise where I live. Each employee had set roles, and as peoples' conditions/disabilities changed, progressed or deteriorated, the company adjusted their role. So, on paper, the people seem to carry out a specific role and be employable but, in reality, their work environment had been modified specifically to them. I don't think anyone has found employment.

So what now... Clearly the tories will not help, IDS is a horrible lying bastard. I think it is, in part, up to the people to become motivated in our communities and build our own resources. Check out ABCD

I know what you mean Cognito, not least because it is the argument that the gov keep trotting out.
But it is not like that really. The money will actually get used to get people with disabilities into work by placing people with mild disabilities in shelf stacking jobs.
Remploy enabled people with serious disabilities to meaningful work. And most will never work again. They have lost their workmates and social structure and many other things. It is shocking but was announced months ago.

Agree, Remploy is fantastic.
Very sad to see jobs going there.

"The same money spent keeping Remploy going, when reassigned, can get ten times the number of people into work placements. Isn't that preferable?"

It would be nice if that was the case, and suitable work could be found for the people at Remploy, but I'm skeptical about that happening. We have 4 Remploy factories in our area closing, and we also have the highest umemployment rate in the country. The prospects of all these people being able to find new jobs isn't great.

Remploy lost £60m+ last year to keep about 3000 people in jobs. That's a lot per person. The same money could go to mainstream employers to make adaptations that would allow many more people with special needs to be employed. Work placements was probably the wrong phrase.

Cognito

Actually several of the factories scheduled to close were profit making. Several others could have been made so. There could have been substantial savings made with considerably fewer redundancies. Also some of the rather top heavy and predominately able bodied administration could have been reduced

Are you not interested in the point that I am others have made that, whilst on paper the money may mean more people might be employed, the very group that remploy supported, the very disabled, probably won't.

The more disabled you are the kess chance of another job. This is number crunching where the most vulnerable are ditched to get a better headline result. Those who will be helped in future are those more likely to get a job anyway. Certainly they will be more likely to have social connections, something which the remploy employess will lose.

Remploy doesn't just keep people in Remploy jobs, it also gave specialised help for people with disabilities to get work in other places. They helped people onto courses, had lists of the most disability friendly employers in the area, and did a lot of admin legwork to help people into employment that the JobCentre had given up on helping.

As far as work placement goes, I know multiple people who were threatened with physically demanding work placements and told that, if they tried and found out they physically couldn't do them, their benefits would be stopped and that the 'employer' had no need to make any changes for them due to just being a work placement. The JobCentre is pushing more people on ESA (and ESA appeals which take over a year where people are getting no help into work) to keep the official unemployed numbers lower.

The whole thing makes me seethe.

I'm seething too.

There is a place for sheltered employment. There is a place for the dignity of a wage, for the ability to do something meaningful and to contribute to the economy with spending and taxes.

Not all of these factories are loss-making, and even those that are have a purpose beyond profit.

I'm happy for general taxation to support this activity. God knows it supports other things I'm less happy with.

Write to your MPs if you care.

Am feeling your anger yakbutter ...

Anyone who thinks that any of these poor people will ever have jobs again is totally deluded. I read the other day that 95% of staff axed under Labour's 2008 closure programme still do not have jobs. I signed the petition against closure some weeks ago but didn't really expect it to do any good .

In fairness I would most like to meet with the arses at Disability Rights UK who proposed the closures. Twats

Me too Pag. They have been infected with some kind of political correctness and I'm sure that they are not bad people.

But there is - there really is - a place for sheltered employment. Not by any means for all disabled people who want to work, but for some who want to work and simply can't in mainstream employment.

Cognito are you really trying to say that a work placement can replace a paying job.
I suppose you also agree with what Philip Davies said last year about how disabled people should/could work for less than the minimum wage.
Methinks Davies was testing the water to see what they could get away with,with regards to disabled people.
Quite a lot it seems.

how sad

but I do agree with cogito,

hard as it is i agree that remploy is too costly
that money that heavily subsidies a few individuals could be redistributed and with good outcomes
heavy subsidization is not normalisation and its costly with limited outcome

Many people would agree with the last two posters ... Which is why there hasn't been much protest. For me it feels like another issue where the coalition can divide and rule.

In my view, it is a tragedy. Not just for the individuals concerned, but for the future of that element of disabled people in our society who need a sheltered environment if they are to work.

I think providing a place where people can work at their own pace, productively, and with pride in what they do is worthwhile, and its ok not to make a profit. Staff get a salary, perhaps support others, pay taxes and can contribute to the economy with their spending.

These are not necessarily people who can get mainstream jobs - I understand that more than 90% of those who lost their jobs in the last round of Remploy cuts are unemployed. This includes skilled workers that I met years ago, doing a high quality technical job with an excellent end product. Mainstream employers will not make the adaptations that these employees need.

I am sad and sorry.