Buckland Autism Employment Review

Work with autistic people, autism organisations, and employer-facing organisations to create a national campaign aimed at employers. Build a package of good news stories and testimonials from employers who employ autistic people and can speak about the benefits it brings to their businesses. Include examples of autistic people with successful careers, ideally in a range of industries, occupations, and levels, from entry level up to senior management. Highlight the availability and sources of advice and support that helped these employers. Include statistics showing that for certain jobs autistic staff can be more productive than neurotypical staff (with some statistics showing productivity improvements in some areas of work ranging from 45–145%). This campaign could start with a high-profile public launch of this report.

Continue to develop Disability Confident, increasing the rigour of developmental work needed to achieve the higher Disability Confident levels, increasing the frequency and rigour of Disability Confident assessments and building in strong links to the Autistica Neurodiversity Employers Index, so autistic jobseekers can seek out Disability Confident organisations knowing they will offer support.

Consider how the online Support with Employee Health and Disability (SEHD) service can link employers to appropriate and accessible advice on best practice for recruiting and supporting autistic staff.

Engage with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, advising on the benefits autistic candidates can bring to businesses, how to remove barriers to recruiting them, and how these improved processes can be applied to the recruitment of all candidates. Explain how this will produce better matches and improved business performance. Share with the Confederation and individual recruitment agencies strong case histories of successful autistic staff that they can use in conversations with client employers.

Identify and promote sources of information and support on becoming self-employed or establishing a social enterprise or Community Interest Company. Work with the Access to Work team to ensure application processes for support with self-employment are reasonably accessible.

Work with the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group and staff team to identify Disability Confident firms who have experience in successfully employing autistic people and achieving culture change. They can act as role models and guides for other Disability Confident organisations.

Work with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) to ensure the 2018 Neurodiversity at Work guidance is publicised and accessible to employers. Developed in collaboration with Uptimize, this provides good practice guidance on developing a neuroinclusive organisation.

Work with autism charities to produce "autism design guides" for a range of industries. Show how to create appropriate and supportive design of premises, furnishings, equipment and procedures, and include examples of where these have worked well.

Work with software suppliers and suppliers of adaptive technology to develop IT systems that meet autistic people's needs. Where these systems are already in place, work with the suppliers to promote them widely and include guidance on how to access them.

Promote the value of employee resource groups and support networks within larger organisations, helping to develop new skills and a network of contacts to succeed at the next level up. Promote the use of mentors and buddies to support staff in developing the skills and behaviours needed to progress.

Work with autism charities, CIPD, management training organisations and other advisors to develop packages of strength-based training focused on helping autistic staff to progress. These packages should identify skills mismatches and gaps and suggest ways of dealing with these – for example, by building existing skills, or by reshaping jobs within the team to better match staff skill sets to roles.

Promote the Autistica Neurodiversity Employers Index, which will enable organisations to measure themselves against best practice, highlight areas of strength and areas for improvement and include an annual awards programme. The Index will also provide guidance on how employers can design fully inclusive processes, procedures and premises so all staff can receive the support they need without autistic staff needing to disclose their condition. The Index had a limited release as a proof of concept with selected employers in autumn 2023, with a full launch open to employers from all market sectors scheduled for spring 2024.

Work with larger national or multinational organisations to develop small pilots of good practice, developing processes and support mechanisms that enable autistic staff to be recruited and to succeed. Assess the success of these pilots so that organisations have evidence for rolling them out more widely. Work with industry representative bodies to take the evidence from these pilots and disseminate it across other businesses in that industry.

Identify and promote cross-industry autism employment support groups, including opportunities for volunteering and work shadowing, that autistic jobseekers can join to build their knowledge of employment and their confidence.

Ensure that the design of the new Universal Support programme meets the varied needs of autistic people, including access to a supported employment programme for those who need help to prepare them for mainstream employment.

Promote supported internships as a good route for autistic young people to develop work experience and skills. Ensure providers are aware of the range of needs of autistic young people and are equipped to meet those needs. The Department for Education is piloting an entry route to supported internships for disabled people without an EHC plan. Push for a speedy rollout of that change across the country.

Promote apprenticeships as another good route to develop work experience and skills, highlighting the additional funding and support available. Many autistic young people will struggle to achieve the maths and English skills required to gain a higher-level apprenticeship. Although there are flexibilities in apprenticeship rules for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities, these may require an EHC plan. Accepting that EHC plans can be difficult to obtain, remove this requirement and allow exemption on self-declaration.

Work with autism charities and other relevant groups to ensure autistic people know about Access to Work and the support it can provide to meet their individual recruitment and employment needs. Continue to improve the Access to Work programme: if the Adjustment Passport and Access to Work Plus pilots produce positive results, these should be rolled out nationally as soon as possible.

Ensure careers advisers in schools, colleges, the National Careers Service in England and equivalents in devolved administrations all have a good understanding of autism, know how to support autistic customers appropriately and can provide appropriate advice to autistic people seeking a first job or a career change.