28th March 2007
An international qualification is to be offered for the first time in the UK for professionals who provide return-to-work and rehabilitation management services. Candidates will be able to sit the inaugural examination this year on the 23rd May in Bristol and London and it will be administered by WorkMatters, a newly-established sister organisation to UnumProvident.
The qualification was developed by the National Institute of Disability Management and Research, a Canadian foundation committed to reducing the human, social and economic cost of disability to workers, employers and society. The certification has been designed to provide an internationally recognised professional qualification for practitioners overseeing or delivering return-to-work services, using as its base the International Labour Organisation’s Disability Management Standard.
The exam has been available in Canada since 2003 and Germany since 2004. Ireland and Australia are joining the UK in offering the examination for the first time. There are now over 350 certified disability management consultants worldwide and applicants come from a wide range of professional backgrounds including: psychology, nursing and occupational therapy, health and medicine.
Joy Reymond, Head of Rehabilitation Services at UnumProvident, said:
The exam is designed to assess a candidate’s knowledge and application of best practice in the field of occupational rehabilitation. These skills are especially valuable to the UK market and the UK economy. Research has repeatedly demonstrated the importance of getting people off Incapacity Benefit into work in order to tackle the deep social problems of poverty and mental ill-health. Effective job retention strategies can also significantly reduce the socio-economic cost of disability to employers, employees and society.
The qualification is now increasingly being expressed as a requirement for positions in Canada and we anticipate the same will happen over the next few years in the UK.
Applications to sit the exam, which consists of a written, scenario-based paper, must be received four weeks prior to the examination date. Candidates will need to have a combination of practical experience in occupational rehabilitation and relevant qualifications in order to sit the exam. The certification will be overseen by the International Disability Management Standards Council and it is planned that the exam will be offered on an annual basis.
For further details on the qualification or for an application pack, candidates should contact workmatters@unumprovident.co.uk or call 01306 874 257.
ENDS