Initiatives undertaken by the Employment and Training Corporation tend to positively influence the employment opportunities of registered disabled persons. However, the opportunity exists to further enhance the impact of training courses and work exposure schemes, intended to improve the participation rate of registered disabled persons in the employment market.
In a report following a performance audit, the Auditor General says potential barriers to the employment of registered disabled persons include unfounded perceptions on disability. Moreover, such persons may also deem it to be more opportune to forego employment in instances where the gap between social benefits entitlements and potential earnings from employment is considered marginal.
Towards this end, the report points out that measures were introduced in the 2012 Budget aimed at addressing issues related to the benefit trap. Other factors impeding registered disabled persons’ employment relate to educational levels and physical accessibility. Such barriers translate themselves in a lengthier registration period than their mainstream counterparts.
To varying degree, various operational issues hinder the ETC’s initiatives to enhance the employment opportunities of disabled persons. The opportunity exists for the Corporation to enhance its internal procedures for reviewing and monitoring initiatives undertaken.
Furthermore, the ETC has acknowledged and is taking action to strengthen its analysis of the labour market. The efficiency and effectiveness of ETC initiatives is also hindered through the lack of facilities which enable the Corporation to determine the abilities of disabled persons, and consequently, be in a better position to identify their suitability for particular employment.
Moreover, the ETC does not maintain a full audit trail of its activities. Such circumstances may impinge on business continuity and performance evaluations.
The ETC aims to enhance the employment opportunities of disabled persons through various services, which include an advisory service, training courses and job exposure schemes. A weak correlation, however, exists between courses offered by the ETC successfully completed by registered disabled persons and employment.
The full completion of job exposure schemes, including subsidised employment, significantly increases employability prospects. However, the possibility exists for more registered disabled persons to be engaged in such programmes.
The envisaged business process re-engineering at the ETC seeks to optimise the use of the Corporation’s human resources whilst broadening its relationships with registrants, including disabled individuals, and employers. These changes would address many of the concerns observed through this performance audit.
This restructuring exercise also provides the opportunity to address the strategic, management and operational concerns raised in this report.
To complement these initiatives, the National Audit Office proposed a number of recommendations aimed at enhancing the employment opportunities of registered disabled persons. The full report may be downloaded from the NAO’s website: www.nao.gov.mt.