B

Baroness Sherlock (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 25 June 2026

Debate

Unemployment: People with Autism

Contribution

The noble Baroness makes an extremely important point. One reason we have focused the nature of our support through the connect to work specialist programme, which works with people who are disabled or have a health condition, is because everyone is different. Autistic people are different from each other, and there is also significant co-occurrence of autism and other neurodivergent conditions. I realise that I am telling this to a Member of the House who knows more than I will ever know about this, but she knows of what I speak. We have set out to make sure that, in that programme, someone has a specialist jobs coach who will work with them and find out what their barriers and their goals are and what they want to be. A recent example is of a young man who got his dream job in a hobby store: he needed his job worker, who went to the interview with him, went through the induction and worked with the employer to make the right adjustments, and now the young man is a really happy and thriving member of staff. That is what we can do well.

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