An independent review into the impact on employment prospects for people who have battled drug or alcohol addiction has been published by the Government.
Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, was commissioned to write the report and to recommend ways people addicted to to drugs and alcohol can be helped to find work.
Dame Carol Black, who has written two previous independent reviews: Working for a Healthier Tomorrow in 2008, and Health at Work of 2011, also looked at the role of employers in helping secure good employment opportunities for people who have struggled with addiction.
Dame Carol, pictured, also explored the effect of obesity on unemployment but found no clear link. She said:
“Our goal has been to find ways of overcoming the employment problems that people face when they are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or are obese. After a searching inquiry we are clear that a fresh approach is needed, one that brings together health, social, and employment agencies in new collaborative ways, personalised to the circumstances of each individual.”
Her report highlighted three main areas where she feels action is needed:
- Addiction treatment does not, in itself, ensure employment, though it brings other social gains. Work
has not hitherto been an integral part of treatment, and it needs to be if progress is to be made. - The benefits system, which has a central role in helping people enter or return to work, requires
significant change. The system is hampered by a severe lack of information on health conditions, poor
incentives for staff to tackle difficult or long-term cases, and a patchy offer of support for those who
are reached. - Employers are the gatekeepers to employment and, without their co-operation employment for our
cohorts is impossible. Employers are understandably reluctant to hire people with addiction and/
or criminal records. They have told us that they need Government, quite simply, to de-risk these
recruitment decisions for them.
Dame Carol added:
“Our recommendations address these challenges and will, I believe, if properly implemented and evaluated, offer new productive pathways for these currently lost cohorts.”