19 November 2024

How the Action Group’s ‘Real Jobs’ service builds empowerment and understanding

Member Case Study: The first of a new series profiling members’ services, showing how they help people live their life independently and thrive in their communities

In the run-up to the Scottish Government’s Budget announcement on 4 December and beyond, we’re sharing positive stories from our members about how their services help people live their life independently and thrive in their communities. In this short case study we profile The Action Group’s Real Jobs service, demonstrating its success – and how further investment would allow it to have an even greater impact.

Action Group’s Real Jobs service enables supported people to access or maintain employment, education or training in Edinburgh City Council.

Through this service, the Action Group has been working with a client for the past few years who has a senior position within the NHS. The client experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adulthood, which had a major, significant impact on their ability to live an independent life. Her recovery was remarkable: from a Glasgow Coma Scale 3, she was able to rehabilitate to a place where her disability is hidden.

However, this comes with its own issues in the workplace: a lack of understanding of hidden disabilities. The individual found their managers made regular assumptions that any issues at work are related to their support needs. Through working with an Employment Advisor, Action Group not only ensured the individual sustained their role but also that they made strides towards improving understanding within their workplace.

Both colleagues and management have embraced training on TBI and neurodiversity, and collaboratively contributed to a disability passport, further empowering colleagues to identify warning signs, and knowing the right intervention strategies.

Three changes that could most improve the impact of this service for people:

  • More funding – to employ more employment advisors, reducing current caseloads and having more time to spend with each client
  • More understanding and support for employers to help them realise the potential in employing people with disabilities
  • More recognition and awareness of our service, who we can help, and what we can help with.

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28 March 2024

“SDS can help put people in the driving seat of their own lives”

Linda Tuthill, Chief Executive of the Action Group and contributor to our Insights Podcasts series, on the blocks that must be removed to ensure Self-Directed Support can be truly empowering

I am passionate about people who use any services having the power and control in their own hands. There are many ways this can happen, through person-centred support services, involvement, and self-advocacy support.

A main way is for the person to have the money in their own hands or in their own name, managed in a way that gives them as much control and flexibility as possible. It also means giving people the choice to not have this if that is not where they are at in their life. It should never be forced on anyone. But instead, if the right support is in place, it is hoped that more and more supported people and carers will opt for Self-Directed Support (SDS).

When done right, SDS is empowering and helps really put the person in the driving seat of their own lives and support. When done badly (i.e. the person isn’t given the support to know what they can buy with their money or there are not the options to buy etc) then nothing really changes.

Sadly, there are also a lot of blocks in the system preventing full implementation of SDS in Scotland, in the spirit of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013. These include:

• Social workers not knowing about SDS

• SDS not being offered at assessment stage

• Bureaucracy being put in place with complicated systems to access SDS, putting off those who want support and organisations who feel unable to engage fully with SDS due to this complexity.

There are also simply the time and capacity barriers that people desperate for support face, that carers face and that staff in Councils and social care organisations face. This has potentially never been more of an issue as it is now due to post-pandemic pressures.

To really get SDS pushed forward we need investment in all parts of the system, including social care organisations that are often best placed to “sell” SDS and to provide innovative solutions to those who then have their own budgets. Without proper investment I am not optimistic that the postcode lottery of SDS take-up will improve beyond what Audit Scotland concluded in 2017.

However, as an optimist I hold on to the hope that the implementation gap will close further through the efforts of the many self-advocates and SDS organisations that exist to promote this important right for everyone who accesses social care now and in the future. My organisation will continue to play its part by continuing to work together with our many SDS funders, with options 1 and 2, and to empower others to move to SDS if this is what they want and help them to work with social work for this to happen.

CCPS’s ethical commissioning workstream, of which its Insights Podcasts series on SDS are a part, helps focus debate and energy around SDS. We need that energy so it doesn’t end up being just great legislation with continued poor or patchy implementation, but instead great legislation with great impact in the lives of everyone in Scotland – given that most of us need support at some point in our lives.

SDS matters to us all!

Listen to our Insights Podcast series. Linda appears on episode 2, which focuses on person-centred care and SDS.

Find out more about the Action Group. 

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