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This is the first part of a two‐part paper that considers the assessment criteria for incapacity benefit (IB) and employment and support allowance (ESA) and how these benefits apply to claimants who are unable to work because they experience episodes of lost or altered consciousness.Part one considers how the IB/ESA appraisal system works in practice and looks specifically at the legal interpretation of lost and altered consciousness. Part two, which will be published in a future issue, will give practical guidance to advisers.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of current and previous government policies and strategies, in relation to people with learning disabilities and employment, to facilitate a better understanding of the current situation and future challenges.

A search was completed to identify government policies relating to the employment of people with learning disabilities. Key policies were identified and their impact was discussed in the paper.

It appears there is a necessity to identify how successful pilot projects can be replicated on a national scale, with clear targets and measures and initial financial support to set up these services. Alongside this there is a need for interventions targeting not just employers, but the general population, educating people about the importance of including and valuing people with learning disabilities in the workforce.

It is important that policy is analysed and the impact of it is assessed to determine whether more action is necessary. This paper adds updates to some of the issues discussed in Melling et al.’s (2011) paper about “Supported employment for people with learning disabilities”.

The UK Coalition government introduced a raft of welfare reforms between 2010 and 2015. As part of its response to the financial crisis, reforms were designed to cut public expenditure on social security and enhance work incentives. Policy makers are required by legislation to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people. This Public Sector Equality Duty is an evidence-based duty which requires public authorities to assess the likely effects of policy on vulnerable groups. This chapter explores the extent to which the Department for Work and Pensions adequately assessed the equality impacts of key welfare reforms when policy was being formulated. The chapter focuses on the assessment of the impact of reductions to welfare benefits on individuals with protected characteristics – age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation – including individual and cumulative impacts. It also considers mitigating actions to offset negative impacts and how the collection of evidence on equality impacts was used when formulating policy. The chapter shows that the impacts of the reforms were only systematically assessed by age and gender, and, where data were available, by disability and ethnicity with no attempt to gauge cumulative impacts. There is also evidence of Equality Impact Assessments finding a disproportionate impact on individuals with protected characteristics where no mitigating action was taken.

Recovery principles have been central to debates in both the government and the mental health field, when thinking about the best way to support people who have experienced mental health distress into employment and education. The purpose of this paper is to review how this principle has been employed within the most effective approaches. This information will contribute to the development of the South London and Maudsley (SLaM) NHS Foundation Trust apprenticeship/return-to-work scheme for people who have experienced mental health distress.

NHS evidence was used to undertake searches journals on CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, HMIC, AMED, BNI, HEALTH BUSINESS ELITE and the Cochrane Library. Common search terms used were as follows: apprentice*; mental illness*; mental disorder*; psychiatric; psychosis; chronic mental disorder*; patient*; service user*; client*; return to work schemes; work; employment; unemployment; peer worker*; supported employment; vocational rehabilitation; peer training*; outcome measure*; recovery.

Although the available literature writing about these employment schemes were not explicit in using Recovery as its guiding principle (i.e. Hope, Control and Opportunity), many of the participants in studies about a particular type of supported employment called Individual Placement Support (IPS) referred to recovery concepts in their narrative accounts, i.e. doing work that is meaningful, building self-esteem. This particular type of employment scheme was shown to have better outcomes for people who have experienced mental health difficulties then others schemes. The importance of employers having systems in place to support people’s control/self-management of their mental health condition was a key factor in helping them retain jobs once they have got them.

The SLaM education and training service plans to develop a return to work programme for people who have had lived experience of mental health distress, through a workforce skills apprenticeships scheme. This is first apprenticeship scheme of this type in London. Therefore, this paper will review the literature on previous and current employment programmes for people who have experienced mental health distress, specifically highlighting what has worked well and what could be improved. This paper will also draw on the literature presented in this review and conclude on key points, which will contribute to the development of SLaM’s apprenticeships scheme. This literature review will form the basis of further research about the outcome/evaluation of the actual apprenticeship scheme after the first year.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the economic benefits of Individual Placement with Support programmes commissioned by NHS North in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions.

A literature review was conducted and data collected from supported employment programmes in four localities. An econometric analysis was performed to evaluate likely savings for local commissioners and return on investment for the Treasury.

Integration of employment support within mental health services is central to success. Econometric analysis showed that local commissioners could save £1,400 per additional job outcome by commissioning evidence-based interventions and there is a positive return on investment to the Treasury for every £1 spent there is a return to the Treasury of £1.04.

This paper demonstrates the economic and social value of evidence-based supported employment for people with severe mental illness. The economic data generated could be helpful in encouraging investment in effective employment support in other areas. The work, views and perspectives contained in this paper are those of the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the organisations for whom the authors work.

According to convergence theory, over time societies form similar social structures, political processes and public policies. In 2001, Israel adopted a welfare reform plan that rejected the traditional strategy of passive income support and instead endorsed the concept of activation. The plan was modeled on the Wisconsin Welfare to Work program and was designed to put the long-term unemployed to work. The program began operating in four regions in 2004 but was abruptly terminated six years later. The purpose of this paper is to analyze why Israel’s welfare reform failed to follow the smooth path predicted by convergence theory and elucidates the factors in the Israeli environment that made the implementation of a program borrowed from the USA unsustainable.

A multi-method approach including interviews with key informants, content analysis of media materials and government documents and a quantitative comparative values analysis of four nations.

The failure of US-style welfare reform in Israel was due to four main factors: a more diverse recipient population, a lack of understanding of Israeli cultural values, a welfare population that included a substantial number of ethnic minorities whose customs conflicted with program regulations and a social movement against the program by non-profit organizations.

This paper demonstrates the limitations of convergence theory and highlights the salience of cultural values in the transmission of activation policies across nations. Specifically, it shows that outcomes vary when policies that are superficially similar are implanted in nations with fundamentally different cultures.

These reforms offer a vision of a fairer welfare system where truly no one is written off, where nearly everyone is preparing or looking for work, where everyone is treated as an individual and gets the support they need. More importantly, these reforms point the way to a fairer society where children don't grow up in poverty, where disabled people enjoy real equality, and everyone is given real help to overcome the barriers to achieving their full potential. (DWP, 2008, p. 8)Workfare has finally arrived in the UK, but not with trumpet blasts of outrage: it's been smuggled in with lofty rhetoric about ‘personalisation’, ‘individually tailored’ advice and support which will enable people to ‘take control of their journey to work'. (Bunting, 2009)