Employing disabled people and people with health conditions

03 Apr 2024

Published in: Member News

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Encouraging job applications from disabled people is good for business.

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Over 7.7 million people of working age in the UK are disabled or have a health condition. Historically there has been a significant gap between the proportion of disabled people employed compared with non-disabled people.

Encouraging applications from disabled people is good for business. 

It can help you to:

• increase the number of high quality applicants available;
• create a workforce that reflects the diverse range of customers it serves and the community in which it is based;
• bring additional skills to the business, such as the ability to use British Sign Language (BSL), which could result in large savings.

The costs of making reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled employees are often low. The benefits of retaining an experienced, skilled employee who has acquired an impairment are usually greater than recruiting and training new staff. It is also good for the individual.

This guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employing-disabled-people-and-people-with-health-conditions/employing-disabled-people-and-people-with-health-conditions provides a summary of information for employers to help:

• increase their understanding of disability;
• enable them recruit and support disabled people and those with long term health conditions in work.

It has links to other resources to enable employers to become more confident when attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining disabled people.

For more information: employer.serviceblackcountry@dwp.gov.uk