Unemployment: People with Autism

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 25th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

What I have been trying to describe is our intention to make sure we have personalised support. The noble Baroness raises an important question. She will know, from having seen the work done and from the early report from the Department of Health, which looked into questions around prevalence of autism and other neurodivergent conditions, that one challenge is that people are having to seek out diagnosis in order to get support. In fact, we need to make sure that support is not dependent on diagnosis. Let me be really clear that a diagnosis of, for example, autism is absolutely not a requirement for engaging with employment support. We are determined to make that available. A diagnosis may be the right thing and may help many people, but it is not a prerequisite for our support.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, has my noble friend the Minister seen the drama “Patience”, which traces the actions of a young woman with autism? It demonstrates that you need to have special provision for such people but that it can be very rewarding to employers if they make that provision. Children with autism do not have special needs, just different needs.

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I must confess to my noble friend that I have not seen it, but I will seek it out. His point is really important. If we can get young autistic people—indeed, any autistic people—into work, I know that many employers will find that there is a huge benefit, not just to the individual but to the organisation. Sometimes, people simply do not know what to do. Line managers are key to this. Earlier this year, for example, my department funded some ACAS-run workshops—masterclasses on neurodiversity—for employers. They were free of charge for employers and aimed particularly at smaller companies to help them understand what it would be like, how to recruit people and how to support them. We know that a lot of employers want to do the right thing, but sometimes just do not know how to do it. Our job is to make that as easy as possible.