With 7.7 million working age people in the UK having a disability, and 83% of people acquiring their disability or long-term health condition whilst in work, it is vital that businesses are confident to attract, recruit and retain disabled employees, including those with long-term health conditions.
Disability Confident is a Government accreditation scheme to support businesses in this aim, and Orwell achieved the Disability Confident Employer accreditation in June 2018. Orwell progressed to become a Disability Confident Leader in October of 2023. This accreditation demonstrates Orwell's commitment to being a confident leader in housing.
We signed up to the scheme to demonstrate our support for equality, diversity, and inclusion alongside our commitment to ensuring fair treatment and equal access to our services, information, and employment.
The scheme focusses on two areas:
Recruitment
- Accreditation to the scheme demonstrates our inclusive culture to prospective candidates.
- We guarantee an interview to every disabled candidate who matches the essential criteria for the role being advertised.
- We provide an accessible recruitment process with online or paper-based application forms, a range of interview and assessment tools and practices and flexibility on timing and location of interviews.
Retention of existing employees
- Promoting healthy lifestyle choices and signposting to relevant support.
- Having a non-discriminatory attendance management policy.
- Supporting employees to manage their disability or health condition.
- Working alongside occupational health and/or specialist support services to make reasonable adjustments.
By being a Disability Confident leader, we also help raise awareness and open up conversation to help reduce some of the stigma or fear of employing someone with a disability. The leader status will allow us to support other employers on their Disability Confident journey.
