Fullyplumped said:
- In the last financial year it lost £684,000 or £19,542 for each disabled employee
- Last year Remploy found 1,200 jobs for disabled people in mainstream employment in Scotland
- By 2012, Remploy will each year be finding more than 20,000 jobs for disabled people in mainstream employment in the UK
Fullyplumped has merely regurgitated Remploy/DWP propaganda. Remploy claims to have placed over 5,300 disabled people, into ‘mainstream’ employment, across England, Scotland and Wales last year. Scotland’s population is around 10% of Englands; yet, according to Fullyplumped’s figures, Scotland accounted for 23% of these jobs. Not bad, when disabled groups are complaining that disability discrimination in employment is still rampant.
Remploy has been caught out on its claims. Yes, it made 5,300 mainstream placements last year; but, these were not 5,300 meaningful jobs. It has been discovered, that around 50% of placements last less than six-months – over 20%, a matter of weeks. Of the other 50%, these range from 6-months to 5 years.
As for Remploy placing 20,000 disabled people per year into mainstream employment by 2012; this is highly questionable.
Their claims that disabled workers at Remploy Hillington are losing the company £19,542 each per annum, is a misrepresentation. Remploy fails to disclose the breakdown of the £20,000. For instance, costs that should be ascribed to Interwork, are in fact loaded onto the factory network; as is, their oversized HR Dpt (nearly 50 HR managers – Pilkington Glass, employee population 6,000 has an HR Dpt of 7!); an outsized car pool, with corresponding fuel allowances; and, the entire Remploy Board.
That factories are losing money is sadly true. But, they are losing money due to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of senior management; a moribund buying department; and, an absolute failure on the part of LRMs to go out and generate work locally.
A new study by the Remploy Consortium of Trade Unions shows that public procurement orders placed directly with Remploy have an annual value of £32 million and amount to 22% of all their orders in their 83 factories. This means that Remploy’s share of the total annual spend by taxpayers in all departments of national and local government is a minuscule 0.024% of the total spend of £136 billion.
The trades unions are stepping up the campaign to move orders to Remploy factories which amount to 5p in every £100 already being spent on public procurement to save disabled workers jobs. Remploy secure only £32 million of orders from a total spend by the tax payer buying goods and services of £136 billion per annum. It must be possible with political will to increase this figure to save these disabled workers jobs.
