A social or a capabilities model? Approaches to disability in the construction and health sectors in Britain and the Netherlands compared

This paper compares the labour market integration and exclusion in the Netherlands with that in the UK. It shows how the UK approach, due to the weakness in social partner involvement, tends towards a capabilities model of employment, while the Dutch model is closer to a social model, though each also exhibits features of both. The focuses on three sectors – construction, ict and health - and on three occupations within these – carpenters, software engineers and nurses. These sectors are contrasting in terms of their regulation, with the health sector in both countries being more highly regulated and state-controlled than construction, and in particular IT. The research investigated the interplay between training, employment and working conditions, and policy measures, in the three sectors with a view to identifying both how these influence employment opportunities and labour market participation. In our conclusions we deal with barriers and enabling factors for gender, ethnicity and disability. In both countries government policy has focused on the individual’s integration in the labour market, including through ‘reasonable adjustment’ measures, reflecting, in this respect, the capabilities model. However, in the UK this focus has largely gone together with a neglect of sectoral level policy, in the Netherlands social partners are involved, reflecting a social model.