Inclusive Employment Business Manager receives accolade at 2023 National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards

A finalist in the ‘Employer’ Award category, Sue was nominated by one of her colleagues in recognition for her commitment to her team and her dedication to breaking down barriers to help people with learning disabilities and/autism reach their goal of achieving paid employment.

Sue has overseen ECL’s Inclusive Employment Service from its inception in April 2020. Then, the service consisted of a team of four. Just three and a half years on, it has grown exponentially to a team of 45 that support over 700 customers.

Sue said: “It is wonderful to be recognised at these awards. Receiving a ‘Highly Commended’ from the judges is fantastic because it’s national recognition that what we are doing in Essex works. I passionately believe that that everyone has the right to paid employment. Prior to launching our service, we undertook extensive research among young adults with disabilities in our county to find that many were attending day centres as the only choice available, and they would rather have careers and contribute to their community. Our Inclusive Employment service was born in response to this and the numbers speak for themselves. To date the service has supported over 884 people and over 88% of those people with a vocational profile have achieved paid employment. We hope that other local authorities will be inspired by our success and adopt a similar approach.”

The ethos of ECL’s Inclusive Employment team is to support adults with learning disabilities achieve their dreams of paid employment. Matching talented individuals to meet the needs of the business, creating a successful working relationship that enables the candidate to develop their skills and achieve their goal of becoming more independent. ECL provides on-the-job coaching and mentoring for as long as is needed to ensure that both the individual and the employer have the best experience. As well as working with local businesses to help them become Disability Confident employers.

Organised by Care Talk Magazine, the National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards celebrate excellence in learning disabilities and autism support.

For more information about ECL’s Inclusive Employment Service visit ecl.org/services/learning-disability-autism-support/inclusive-employment