Evaluation of RBLI’s employment support programme, LifeWorks, by New Learning & Work Institute finds 83% of Military veterans achieved positive career outcomes.

Report recommends programme can help government meet its aim to halve disability unemployment gap.

RBL says current Government investment “doesn’t match its ambition” and calls for government to invest if they are serious about halving a gap which has barely changed since 2010

Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI), the national Armed Forces charity, has today called on the Department for Work and Pensions to fund an expansion of LifeWorks, its award-winning employment support programme that has helped nearly 600 long-term unemployed Military veterans into work over the last five years.

Released today, an evaluation report of LifeWorks by the Learning and Work Institute has found that the course has delivered exceptional results with 83% finding some form of employment, education or training, despite 79% having a health condition or disability. What’s more, 77% of those who found work were in full-time employment.

These results are particularly impressive when put into context of the Government’s current Work Programme, which sees only 33% of its delegates find employment.

Now, RBLI is looking to grow LifeWorks beyond ex-services personnel to help the Government meet its aim of halving the disability employment gap. Just 47% of disabled people are in employment – as opposed to 80% of non-disabled people.

Halving this gap would bring 1.2 million disabled people into the workplace, yet there has been little reduction since 2010.

Achieving this requires a serious commitment to equipping disabled people for work, however RBLI believes that the Government’s current investment in employment schemes does not meet its ambition.

RBLI is now calling for £750,000 of investment from DWP to fund a pilot of the LifeWorks scheme for people in the wider community who are unemployed, particularly those with disabilities and health conditions.

If successful, the charity aims to work with DWP to scale up the programme in order to help reduce unemployment and halve the disability employment gap across the UK.