Initiatives to get more people into work to be unveiled by minister

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is to unveil initiatives designed at getting more people in Northern Ireland into employment.

They will include strategies to ensure more disabled people and benefit claimants can enter the labour market.

Northern Ireland has an economic inactivity rate of 26%. Mr Lyons has said he is determined to get more people into work.

He will make announcements at the Assembly on Monday.

Speaking in advance, he said: “Employment is one of the best pathways out of poverty and to improved health and life outcomes.

“I am determined to open up opportunities and to break down barriers to employment.

“My focus is on those who have felt excluded from the world of work and making sure that the right supports are in place at the right time.”

Mr Lyons will set out his new strategy to ensure more disabled people and people with health conditions can access the labour market.

Northern Ireland has the worst disability employment rate (41.3%) across the UK (52.8%).

The minister said: “Up to now, our track record on disability employment has not been good enough. I want us to do better.

“Disability influences lives in many unique and personal ways and the issues faced by disabled people can be complex and intersectional.

“Employment can offer a means to help address and overcome many of the challenges faced.

“Real change is needed that matches the talents and ambitions of disabled people. It must be felt on the ground.

“My new strategic approach promises that change.”

The minister will also launch a new programme to help working age benefit claimants to enter or re-enter the labour market.

The scheme will expand on previous employer incentive programmes which the Department for Communities said have seen thousands of participants move into employment.

Mr Lyons said: “I will be bringing forward the biggest jobs programme of its kind, extending our reach to more people than previous initiatives.

“The programme will have a range of supports for new employees and also for employers to ensure positive pathways to work.

“It will build upon the success of previous programmes recently delivered by the department which were positively endorsed both by employers and jobseekers.”

The Department for Communities has said Northern Ireland’s economic inactivity rate is 26%, which means that more than 300,000 people of working age are not active in the labour market.

It has said almost 40% of that is due to ill-health or disability.