Last reviewed: 22 June 2022

• Any services provided on your behalf should reflect the high standards for disability inclusion that your organisation maintains.
• You are responsible for avoiding discrimination, even in services provided by external partners.
• Negotiate contracts with external partners to include specific requirements to be inclusive and accessible for disabled candidates.
• Monitor their performance regularly, and step in to ask for changes where they are not meeting your requirements.

Attracting disabled candidates

Many of the steps recruitment agencies and job brokers should take to attract disabled applicants are the same as the ones employers who attract talent themselves can take.

For example:

• Creating accessible job adverts
• Using inclusive, positive and welcoming language in job adverts – See our resource ‘Job adverts – Dos and don’ts’ for more information.
• Advertising jobs in a range of places, and working with other orgainsations such as specialist disability charities, colleges and universities to reach more disabled applicants. See our resource ‘Attracting disabled applicants’ for more information.
• Providing examples of adjustments available and inviting applicants to request adjustments to the application process, including accepting applications in alternative formats where possible.
• Training staff that will be receiving and sifting applications how to avoid discriminating against disabled candidates, for example if they have gaps in their employment history or non-traditional qualifications. See our resource ‘Training recruiters and hiring managers’ for more information.

Refer to the rest of the resources in this section – ‘Section 1 – Attraction and job design’ – for more information about attracting disabled candidates.

Working with recruitment agencies and job brokers

There are also specific steps to take when working with recruitment agencies and job brokers to attract disabled candidates and avoid discrimination. These agencies and brokers may well be the first contact that individuals have with your organisation, so they will be setting the tone for the rest of their interactions with you. It is therefore vital that agencies and brokers know your commitment to disability inclusion and treat disabled applicants in the same way you would if they were applying directly.

You should:

• Build your accessibility and inclusion requirements into any contract, including options to pause or terminate the contract if these are not being met. For more information, see our resource ‘Procuring disability-smart recruitment services’.
• Also include in any contract regular points to monitor their performance in terms of accessibility and inclusion. For example, require them to provide data about how many adjustments are being requested, what sort of adjustments are being requested, and how many of these requests lead to adjustments being made.
• Ensure that they advertise jobs in an inclusive and accessible way. For example, if they are creating their own adverts or posts on platforms such as Indeed or LinkedIn, make sure they follow standards of accessibility and inclusive language. See our resource ‘Job adverts – Dos and don’ts’ for more information. Our Inclusive Communication Toolkit also has advice about meeting accessibility standards.
• Make sure agencies and brokers are aware of what sort of adjustments will be possible in post. They may receive questions from disabled applicants about whether they can have adjustments in the role, and it is better that they are prepared to answer. However, make sure they aren’t turning away disabled applicants on this basis before checking with you.
• If they will be conducting interviews and/or tests and assessments, make sure they know how to make adjustments and conduct them in an inclusive way. For advice about interviews, see our resource ‘Hosting inclusive interviews’. For advice about tests and assessments, see our resource ‘Conducting tests and assessments’.
• If your organisation has an ‘Offer an interview’ scheme – where disabled applicants who meet the minimum or essential criteria are automatically offered a job interview – make sure that the agency or broker knows this and offers interviews on the same terms. For more information about this, see our resource ‘‘Offer an interview’ schemes’.
• Require agency staff and job brokers to have a certain level of knowledge about avoiding discrimination and using inclusive recruitment practices. You could use our ‘Charter for disability-smart recruitment providers’ as an example of the acceptable minimum you expect from them.

This Toolkit has more advice about working with external organisations providing recruitment services in ‘Section 5 – Outsourcing recruitment services’.

The law

Recruitment agencies and job brokers have obligations not to discriminate against disabled people. Employers are also responsible for making sure that recruitment agencies and job brokers they work with are not discriminating against disabled people.

Employers, recruitment agencies and job brokers have responsibilities to:

• Provide reasonable adjustments to disabled applicants and candidates during the recruitment process.
• Ensure the terms on which recruitment services are provided do not discriminate against disabled people.
• Ensure the ways in which they select applicants and candidates does not discriminate against disabled people.

An agency must under the law:

• Provide auxiliary aids or services. Examples include providing sign language interpreters and/or a text phone for a deaf candidate, or providing information in alternative formats such as large print or audiotape for candidates with a visual impairment.
• Offer an interview at an alternative accessible venue if physical features of the original interview venue make it difficult to access.
• Make adjustments to physical features of their premises that make it difficult for disabled people to access the service.

See the resources in the ‘Recruitment and the law’ section of this Toolkit for more information about employers’ and agencies’ legal duties.

Contact our Advice Service for tailored advice about specific situations.

Read next

• Employment agencies and the law
• Monitoring inclusive practices in outsourced recruitment services
• Charter for disability smart recruitment providers

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