ENDNOTE
1 At:A7~B3.lf, 83.10
Interviewers were instructed to explain follows
‘Supported and sheltered employment are terms in common useto describe a variety of paid
employmentprovision for severely disabled people whocan work but who areunlikely, because of
their l~mi1edproductivity,to get and keepjobs in open or mainstream employment without some
support. Employment is in supported placementswith firms, or in workshops or factories specially
for disabled people’
TUE UNIVERSITY O~4~71~ SocIAL POLiCY RESIARCH UNIT
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[Datej
Dear[]
Users’ views of Access to Work
The Employment Service has asked the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York to carry out a studyof users’ views of the Access to Work
programme. You recently took part in an interview as part of a large national
surveycarried out on our behalf bya surveycompany called Ipsos-RSL. We
are verygrateful for yourcontnbution.
In that interview yousaId that you would be prepared to take part in further research on Access to Work and you agreed to your name being passed to a researcher. 1 am writing to you nowtoask if you are willing to talk to us in more depth about your opinions of Access to Work. We are especially
interested in understanding why users rate some aspects of the service more highly than others. The aim of the research is to help the Employment Service to improve the Access to Work service, so it is very important to understand more about whaVmatters to its users.
The interview will take no longer than 90 minutes. I will telephone you in the next few days to tell you more about it and answer any questions you may have. We can then arrange to meet at a time and place that is convenIent for you. Of course, I will quite understand if you do not wish to take part on this
occasion.
As a small token of thanks for their help everyone who takespartwill be offered a gift of £15
Continued/...
give us will be treated as strictly confidential and nobody outside the research team will know who has taken part. Our research report for the Employment Service will be wntten so that no individual can be identified. We will send a short summary of the findings to everyone who takes part in this part of the research.
I lookforward to ‘phoning you soon. If you have any questions in the
meantime, you may contact me on 01904 432626 (Voice or Text) or e-mail me
at [email protected]. If you wish to ask the Employment Service about the
research directly you may contact Leroy Groves, Research and Development, on 0114259 6216 or e-mail [email protected]
Yours sincerely
Hilary Arksey Research Fellow
Accessto Work is a programme for people with long-term health conditions or
impairments who need extra practical support to do their jobs or take up work The programme helps towards the costs of three main types of support:
environmental aids and adaptions in theworkplace, human support, and
fares for travel to work
As part of a review of the programme, the Employment Service commissioned ~ the Social Policy Research Unit and Ipsos-RSL to carry out a study of users’
views and experiences of Access to Work The study comprised a national
survey conducted between late July and mid September 2000 and a qualita~e
¶
follow-up study A small panel of users advised on aspects of the study de~goThe report cover users’ opinions of the service provided by Disability Servi~_._
staff and specialist advisers, and opinions of their employers’ role The res~ac~b also explored users’ experiences of and views on speed of provision and fgIlb~- up contact Users’ overall opinions of Access to Work are reported, includ~g their ratings of its appropriateness in meeting their work-related needs ap~d usefulness in enabling them to work Throughout, the report comments c~ differences in opinion according to the characteristics of users, their
employment situation and the support they receive from Access to Work The final chapter of the report, drawing on the qualitative elements of the study, outlines factors for the Employment Service to consider in constructingra self-completion questionnaire for Access to Work users
~p1.
All reports and their summaries are available from
Research Management Employment Service Research and Development
Level 2, Rockingham House
1 23 West Street, Sheffield, Si 4ER Tel 01142596217
Fax 0114 259 6463 red es rh@gtnet gov uk
This Report is also available in ~railIearid Large Prini formats upon request Note all WAE publications are available free of charge