A Message for Recruiters from Sarah Newton, Minister for Disabled People

At 75.6 per cent, the employment rate in Britain has never been higher. This continued success is to be celebrated. And jobs continue to be created. In March to May 2018 there were 818,000 job vacancies – 33,000 more than for a year earlier.

As recruiters, I don’t need to tell you that the competition amongst employers to attract the right people with the right skills is high and is likely to be a key challenge for employers and the recruitment sector in the coming years.

As Minister for Disabled People, I am pleased to see that employers are increasingly looking to address their recruitment needs, not only by considering a wider range of potential sources of talent, but also by seeking to understand how to best attract and retain a more diverse range of people. As the Future of Jobs Commission said last year, we need to see a labour market where inclusion is the norm – for employers and employees. And it is great to see REC and many of its members leading the way through the Good Recruitment initiative which has the active promotion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace at its core.

There are over 7 million working age people in the UK who have a disability or health condition, representing a vast and varied pool of talent that businesses could tap into.

More and more employers are recognising the benefits disabled people can bring to their businesses. However, some continue to have misconceptions about what employing a disabled person will mean. For example, disabled people don’t always need expensive workplace adjustments. In reality, many don’t need any adjustments at all. Many businesses also tell me that they lack the confidence to employ disabled people and are concerned about ‘doing or saying the wrong thing’.

The Disability Confident scheme can help employers overcome these barriers by giving them the skills and tools they need to successfully recruit and retain disabled people. Nearly 7,000 employers are already members of the scheme and are benefitting from the free support it offers, including online guidance, access to members-only social media groups, and priority access to specialist events to help organisations progress through the Disability Confident levels.

I am hugely grateful to REC and its members who continue to be great supporters of the scheme. Manpower have joined the Disability Confident Business Leaders’ Group, bringing the sector’s know-how to the development of the scheme, and there are over 200 recruitment agencies now signed up Disability Confident. If you aren’t yet one of them, I urge you to join today by going to gov.uk/disability-confident.

We are moving in the right direction, but we need to do more. There are still far too many disabled people who want to work but are faced with barriers. And there are too many employers who are potentially missing out on the talented people they need.

Recruiters can help to address both of these issues by influencing your clients to be more inclusive and consider a wider range of prospective employees. And if you have already been doing this and are seeing the results, it would be great to hear about it – we are always looking to showcase best practice. You can speak to REC or drop a line to my Disability Confident team.