Vikki Slade MP meets Minister to champion Dorset charity SAMEE

Vikki Slade MP has met with Andrew Western, Minister for Transformation at the Department for Work and Pensions, to advocate for SAMEE - a Dorset charity supporting young adults with SEND into self-employment.

The meeting followed Vikki’s recent question in the House of Commons highlighting the work of the charity.

During that debate, Vikki said:

“Samee is a charity working in Dorset to support disabled young adults into self-employment. It has celebrated 10 years and supported 2,700 people, and it has what it tells me is the world’s only supported self-employed internship.”

“Young people who have learning disabilities have great skills for self-employment. However, they cannot access the work because they cannot get a unique tax reference because they take more than 12 months to get to the relevant earnings levels. What is the Minister doing to help young people into self-employment so that they can fulfil their destiny?”

At the meeting, Vikki and the Minister discussed a range of issues including barriers around obtaining a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), as well as how national schemes such as the Youth Guarantee and Connect to Work programme can better support young people with additional needs.

Following the discussion, the Minister committed to updating Vikki on forthcoming changes that may affect access to employment schemes locally, and how organisations such as SAMEE can better engage with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Vikki Slade MP said:

“Many of these young people with disabilities or who are neurodiverse struggle in paid jobs. Working for themselves allows them to build on their skills and avoids some of the areas that create stress. If we can make this easier and provide them with more support, we can get more of them off benefits and help them become independent.”

I will continue working with Ministers to remove unnecessary barriers and ensure disabled young adults can access the support they need to thrive.”