Tackling the disability employment gap
15 January 2019
Over half of workplaces are missing out because they are excluding disabled talent. According to Disability Sport, there are over 11 million people with a disability in the UK and less than 8% of disabilities require the use of a wheelchair.
Disabled people have amazing skills and experience, and have valuable qualities that your organisation needs – you could get a competitive edge in business. Over 10,000 small to large businesses are now signed up to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme.
The costs to your business of not holding on to staff can be considerable – for example, loss of productivity when the employee leaves, and admin costs associated with recruitment and training of new staff. Replacing a single member of staff costs more than £30,000. Most of that cost is through loss of productivity in getting a new recruit up to speed (28 weeks on average).
Over a year, ACAS estimates the total costs combined is £4.13 billion.
Businesses are also missing out on the spending power of disabled people and their families, which is estimated at £249 billion a year. This figure is often referred to as the Purple Pound. As the population ages and the number of disabled people increases, this figure will only rise.
The Disability Confident scheme supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.
The scheme helps you think differently about disability and to take action to improve how you recruit, retain and develop disabled employees.
It’s free to sign up, with immediate access to resources, guidance and best practice. You’ll be given a certificate and badge to promote the scheme and for use on social media and/or your website, so you can stand out in the marketplace.
You can start your journey as a Disability Confident ‘Committed’ employer by signing up to 5 commitments:
- Ensuring your recruitment processes are inclusive and accessible
- Communicating and promoting vacancies via a range of channels
- Offering an interview to a disabled person if they meet the minimum criteria
- Anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required
- Supporting any existing employee who acquires a disability or long term health condition and committing to offering a disabled person an opportunity such as work experience, job shadowing or paid employment (among other opportunities)
Find out more about becoming a Disability Confident employer.
The Scottish Government has provided new funding to help address workplace barriers; more disabled parents will be helped into work following an additional £6 million aimed at reducing both the disability employment gap and child poverty. With only around 40% of working age disabled adults in employment, compared with more than 80% of non-disabled adults, the new funding is part of an action plan outlining how this gap can be at least halved over the next 20 years. The plan sets an initial ambition to increase the employment rate of disabled people to 50% by 2023 then to 60% by 2030.