abstract: 'Background: Supported Employment has been advocated for by successive

  governments and policymakers alike as the best approach to employment

  inclusion for people with an intellectual disability who are in receipt

  of social care. Yet only 5.2\% of this demographic are in any form of

  work and these numbers have been persistently stagnant for many years.

  Aims: This study aimed to explore the employment landscape and grapple

  with the intersecting layers of policy consequence for people who have

  an intellectual disability, and are in receipt of social care, who wish

  to engage with work preparation employment support.

  Methods: As an active participant in the field, this study was

  ethnographic and conducted at a new job club that had been established

  in England. In addition, three further sites of complementary data were

  explored in Wales, through interviews and focus groups.

  Findings: This study demonstrates that there is a mismatch between how

  evidence informs policy, and how funding is allocated to support with

  work preparation. Those unable to secure Supported Employment services

  are, instead, navigating extreme employment disadvantage and scant

  opportunities, in the open labour market. Further, bound up in this

  analysis is evidence of a non-universal understanding of waged work

  where any form of financial remuneration is welcome.

  Discussion and conclusion: Overall, with a mismatch between evidence

  that informs policy, policy rhetoric, realistic employment prospects,

  and available work, without a fundamental employment policy shift, the

  very low employment rates within this demographic will not increase.'
affiliation: 'Dearing, K (Corresponding Author), Cardiff Univ, Cardiff, S Glam, Wales.

  Dearing, Kim, Cardiff Univ, Cardiff, S Glam, Wales.'
author: Dearing, Kim
author-email: dearingka@cardiff.ac.uk
author_list:
- family: Dearing
  given: Kim
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1332/174426421X16140992285741
eissn: 1744-2656
files: []
issn: 1744-2648
journal: EVIDENCE \& POLICY
keywords: Intellectual disability; employment; wages; ethnography
keywords-plus: 'SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT; LEARNING-DISABILITIES; MENTAL-RETARDATION;

  SELF-DETERMINATION; ADULTS; IMPACT; NEEDS; LIFE; UK'
language: English
month: MAY
number: '2'
number-of-cited-references: '51'
pages: 261-277
papis_id: 4ee5a84e4d5edb57e6247b35c92855a9
ref: Dearing2021exploringnonuniversa
researcherid-numbers: Dearing, Kim/HSG-3804-2023
times-cited: '5'
title: 'Exploring a non-universal understanding of waged work and its consequences:
  sketching out employment activation for people with an intellectual disability'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000652462800005
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
volume: '17'
web-of-science-categories: Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
year: '2021'