an alternative model

Despite the operation, he is still restricted in what he can do physically. Heavy lifting and any other sort of strenuous activity is impossible, so his employment opportunities are limited.

He has worked at the Leeds Remploy branch since he was 17 – a year after he left Garforth Comprehensive in West Yorkshire – and is now shop steward for the GMB (General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union), which has over 617,000 members across the UK.

The 51-year-old, from Swillington, Leeds, said: “When I left school at 16 I applied for quite a few jobs, but more or less as soon as I declared I had a heart condition I knew there was a change in their attitude. Employers do not want to take the risk. It knocks your confidence.”

Then he discovered Remploy, the Government-owned company formed in 1945 under the terms of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944, and his life changed completely.

“When you are classed as disabled and you get a job like this, you get much more, you gain your confidence, you meet friends. The Government think they are going to save money by withdrawing funding but I don’t think they will – they are merely putting people back into the benefits system for life.” Many who currently work for Remploy will soon be unemployed again.

The idea behind Remploy was to begin a businesses whose employees would be mostly disabled. The first factory opened in Bridgend, Wales, in 1946 but over the next few decades, the network expanded across the UK and at the end of 2007 there were 83 factories, producing all kinds of bespoke products from garden sheds and wooden benches to bird boxes and bathroom cabinets. The company even branched out into the service sector, providing catering and recycling.

The goods were sold to public bodies, among others, which, since 2006 at least have had an obligation to purchase some of their products from so-called “supported businesses” like Remploy, in order to fulfil corporate social responsibility objectives

But Remploy did more than just make high quality bespoke wooden furniture. For the people who work there, it has given them back the self-esteem many longed for before they found work; it created a way back into wider society and a way off benefits . It also opened up a whole new social network.

Clive said: “On the one hand, the Government is saying it wants to cut the number of people on benefits and it’s making it harder for people with disabilities to get them but on the other, it’s closing down Remploy factories, which is just going to send hundreds of disabled people back into unemployment.”

The cuts are part of the Government’s wide-ranging austerity measures, and follow an in-depth analysis of the company’s finances by accountants KPMG. In their report to the Department for Work and Pensions in March this year, they painted a grim financial picture of the company and said it had been operating at a loss for the last three years. The factories lose a total of £63m a year and each employee is subsidised by an average £25,000, a figure which is set to rise with the mandatory increase in pension contributions.

For a company which is already subsidised by the Government to the tune of £111m a year and given the financial climate, the decision to withdraw funding and in so doing force the closure of the majority of Remploy factories was not unexpected.

But this is not the first time Remploy has seen cutbacks. In 2007, following a similar financial review commissioned by New Labour, its 83 factories were slashed to 54. In March this year, it announced that 36 of its 54 factories were earmarked for closure but the company is in talks with potential bidders for nine of those sites.

It still means the closure of 27 factories and redundancy for more than 1,400 people with disabilities.

Clive said: “I think the timing of it is very bad. It comes just after the massive success of the Paralympics, which the Government was applauding, so on the one hand they are cheering us on and yet on the other they are pulling the rug from under our feet. It sends out totally the wrong message to disabled people, especially younger disabled people.

“There are all kinds of people who will be just condemned to a life without work and without the network of friends it provides, I don’t think anyone has thought about that. There are people here with physical disabilities and others with learning disabilities. When they are here they are surrounded by people who know how to deal with them but you cannot just put them into mainstream work and expect them and everyone else to cope when they suddenly have a tantrum or a breakdown.

“For years, Remploy has been a route back to work for people with disabilities and it’s a safe environment. For those who 
want to go on into mainstream work, they can do; for those who want to stay here, the option is there. They earn a decent wage, 
get job satisfaction and they 
have friends. Some have been 
here over 40 years. If they are forced to leave, there’s no chance for them, they will just be on benefits. They will struggle to get a new job.”

Clive rejects the view of Liz Sayce, chief executive of disability charity Radar, who conducted a review of the company prior to the Government’s withdrawal of funding. In it she concluded there were better ways to spend public money. She also dubbed the Remploy factories “disabled ghettos.”

Clive said: “ I resent that description, and I resent the fact those making the decisions haven’t been down themselves to see what we do. Most people who do say what a fantastic place it is. But it cannot exist without Government funding. My own view is if they are going to close the factories, I think they ought to taper the funding, withdrawing it gradually, which would give factories a chance to find other buyers and adapt. But there’s no time for us to do that. We’ve been given six weeks, which means we close on November 17.”

Stephen and Dorothy Mellor 
met at the recently closed Pontefract Remploy factory more than 30 years ago and subsequently got married. Stephen, 57, who has had problems with his back and 
leg since birth, said the 
company was a lifeline for many disabled people.

“It made a huge difference to people’s lives – the Government expects us all to just go out and get new jobs, but the reality is that, despite the laws about discrimination, employers just find other ways not to employ people with disabilities. In effect, they have just put 2,500 people back on the dole. I don’t think it would have cost that much to keep it going – when we closed we still had orders coming in. Many people have worked there for 30 or 40 years. This was the place they set up for us to work and now they have just thrown us on the scrapheap.”

A spokesman from Remploy said: “Remploy announced on July 10 it was in discussion with a number of bidders for nine of the 36 factories. It has decided to close the remaining 27 factories. The closures will put at risk 1,421 jobs in those factories and in central departments.

“This decision on closures follows a period of formal collective consultation [during which] the company met with the trade unions and other employee representatives on more than 18 occasions and over 100 days provided answers to 240 questions and [gave] careful consideration to suggestions and alternatives put forward to mitigate job losses.”

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