• highlight the benefits of recruiting disabled people

• provide information that will enable them to adopt inclusive recruitment processes

• highlight good practice so they feel confident in their ability to support disabled students and graduates in the workplace

We hope it offers reassurance that many adjustments can be made very easily; providing a flexible schedule of working hours may be all that is necessary to employ someone with a disability. 

This applies to: 

• anyone who works for an employer

• contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work

• job applicants

*There is no need for a person to establish a medically diagnosed cause for their impairment. What it is important to consider is the effect of the impairment, not the cause

• interview arrangements  

• aptitude or proficiency tests  

• job offers  

• terms of employment, including pay  

• promotion, transfer, and training opportunities 

• dismissal or redundancy  

• discipline and grievances 

They can only ask about a person’s health or disability:  

• to help decide if they can carry out a task that is an essential part of the work 

• to help find out if they can take part in an interview 

• to help decide if the interviewers need to make reasonable adjustments for a person in a selection process 

• to help monitoring 

• if they want to increase the number of disabled people they employ 

• if they need to know for the purposes of national security checks 

It is important to note that failure to provide reasonable adjustments is a specific form of discrimination outlined in the Equality Act (2010).  

It can provide practical and financial support for people who have a disability or physical or mental health condition.

Support can be provided where someone needs support or adaptations beyond reasonable adjustments.

This Access to Work factsheet for employers covers:

• how it can help you (the employer)

• the Access to Work Mental Health Support Service

• who can get Access to Work

• how much it could cost you (the employer)

• how someone can claim

• what happens subsequently

• Employers, both public and private, can apply for funds. However, this application must include a third sector partner (e.g., a registered charity) that has knowledge and experience of the equality issue.  

• Funding can help with promoting progressive practices in recruitment, increasing organisation’s understanding of the challenges faced by disabled people and taking practical steps to overcome them and creating more inclusive working environments.   

For example:

• Making changes to the workplace,

• Changing someone's working arrangements

What ‘Reasonable’ means

What is reasonable depends on each situation. The employer must consider carefully if the adjustment

• will remove or reduce the disadvantage

• is practical to make

• is affordable

• could harm the health and safety of others

UK Gov Guidance on Employing disabled people and people with health conditions

The benefits of employing disabled people

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.

The project came about because the CES observed that a lack of work experience was presenting additional barriers for autistic and disabled students when job seeking. As there are no appropriate programmes we can refer autistic and disabled students/graduates to in order to gain paid work experience the CES initiated a pilot to address this. 

Background on employment outcomes of disabled graduates

• Research shows that graduates experience a disability employment gap (3.4% 15 months after graduation; 12.7% over the working lifespan)​

• Autistic graduates are most likely to be unemployed and those who are in work are least likely to be in high skilled or permanent employment*​

*AGCAS What Happens Next 2025

UK Gov resource: Recruitment and disabled people

HOWEVER, through the Access to Work fund there is currently zero cost for small employers:

Employer Cost Share

For special aids and equipment there can be an employer cost share:

• Small Employer (0-49): Zero Cost Share

• Medium Employer (50 to 249): First £500 and 20%

• Large Employer (250+): First £1000 and 20%

• Any costs above £10,000 met by Access to Work*

NOTE: There will be no cost share if the application to Access to Work is made within 6 weeks of an employee starting employment.

NOTE: There may be a 20% cost share if there is a general business benefit, e.g. the business can now earn more money because of the equipment AtW has funded or the equipment can be used by other none disabled colleagues.

It includes a checklist for inclusive job description adverts:

• A clear and realistic overview of what the role will entail, removing any uneccesary criteria and using simple language

• Person specification. Make role requirements clear and specific

• Clear policies and benefits of working with you. e.g. annual leave allowance, pension contributions, people policies (maternity and paternity leave), well-being support, etc

• Working options i.e role is available part-time, full-time or job share. Promote flexible working opportunities

• Salary/salary bands (non-negotiable where possible)

• Information on how to request reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process 

• Flexibility of interviews. Offer a range of dates and times for interviews. Consider offering virtual or face-to-face.

This guide, from ACAS, covers:

• How to handle a reasonable adjustment request

• How to decide what reasonable adjustments are needed

• Confirming reasonable adjustments (a template is provided)

• It covers several aspects of support including travel to work, accessing work premises, the need for specialist equipment or IT and various types of support worker.

• It also provides information on how to apply for an Access to Work grant

Health Adjustment Passport

It covers:

• Strategies to reduce unconcious bias

• The importance of a standardised process

• Anonymous applications/recruitment

It covers:

• Before the interview

• Conducting your interview

• Making your interview accessible

• Tips for virtual interviews

• 
  

• speaking directly to them rather than any support worker.   

• try to ask direct and understandable questions rather than vague questions. If you ask a candidate an industry specific question, give them extra time to answer as they may need time to properly prepare their answer. 

• If the candidate does not seem to have a lot of work experience or has gaps in their education/work history allow them an opportunity to give a brief explanation for this. It may be that they have achieved the necessary skills through other means e.g., when managing their disability, they may have developed their ability to plan and organise through coordinating their doctor’s appointments around their university schedule or by working with the university’s Disability Services, they have advanced their ability to work effectively in a team.     

• ask the candidate to give actual examples to a question rather than asking them about a hypothetical situation/ scenario.    

• telling them about any flexible working patterns that you may be able to offer them.   

• making sure that you ask each applicant the same questions, whether they are disabled or not. 

It covers:

• Before they start

• Details on how you can support new and existing staff with reasonable adjustments

• Buddies

• Mentoring

• The Careers & Employability Service works closely with a wide variety of local SMEs (small and medium size businesses)

• Scotland boasts large numbers of SMEs and start ups and a large proportion of our students and graduates will go on to work in an SME

This project focused on inspiring confidence in SMEs to recruit, interview and employ students or graduates who require reasonable adjustments in the workplace by providing them with a toolkit: 

• It should cover the firm’s responsibility in terms of the law and how to access any funds that are available to them in making adjustments

• It should also explore what they can do as employers to proactively assist their employees and how they can prevent discrimination in their organisation

Head of Careers & Employability Service katrina.forbes@strath.ac.uk

Anna Selwood

Project Lead and Senior Careers Consultant

anna.selwood@strath.ac.uk

Gill Cowan

Project Supervisor and External Engagement Co-ordinator

gill.cowan@strath.ac.uk

There is no single adjustment that suits everyone.

This comprehensive guide to psychometric tests for disabled and neurodivergent applicants has been produced by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Disability Task Group

Robbie Crow

Employers are responsible for supporting and implementing reasonable adjustments to ensure employees with vision impairment can work equally alongside others.

This guide produced by Visibility Scotland provides useful advice, examples of good practice and further support