Being a disability confident employer

• Disability Confident is a UK Government scheme to support employers to be more inclusive.
• It has three levels, and employers can progress through the levels by taking concrete steps to improve disability inclusion.
• Participating in the Disability Confident scheme can be a great way of demonstrating to applicants and candidates that your organisation is committed to recruiting and retaining disabled talent.

What is the Disability Confident scheme?

The Disability Confident Scheme is a UK Government initiative which was launched in November 2016. 

It is a voluntary scheme, and it offers free sign-up, resources and names the organisations that have signed up on its website. 

The scheme has been designed to work for all sizes of organisations, from those employing at least one person to the large global employers. 

The scheme has three levels: 

1. Disability Confident Committed – sign up and commit to the scheme, 
2. Disability Confident Employer – self assessment, 
3. Disability Confident Leader – externally validated submission. 

Every organisation has to start on Level 1. You must complete each level before moving onto the next one. Organisations have three years to complete each level before moving up or re-registering to remain where they are. 

Watch our video explaining the Disability Confident scheme below.

Level 1 – Disability Confident Committed

Disability Confident Level 1 is called Committed. This is the entry level. Every organisation needs to start with regardless of where they are on their disability inclusion journey. 

Employers are required to make five commitments and commit to at least one activity from a list of nine. 

The commitments are:

• inclusive and accessible recruitment, 
• communicating vacancies, 
• offering an interview to disabled people, 
• providing reasonable adjustments, 
• supporting existing employees. 

The activities are providing one of the following:

• work experience, 
• work trials, 
• paid employment, 
• apprenticeships, 
• job shadowing, 
• traineeships, 
• internships, 
• student placements, 
• sector-based work academy placements. 

See our Disability Confident Toolkit resources on Disability Confident Level 1 for more information.

Level 2 – Disability Confident Employer

Level 2 is more rigorous than Level 1. It contains 2 themes, and employers must complete all the criteria and one of the activities for each level. Employers must also complete and submit a self-assessment.

Theme 1 – Getting the right people for your business

Theme 1 focuses on recruiting disabled employees. Employers must meet all of the following criteria:

• actively attracting and recruiting disabled people to help fill your opportunities, 
• providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process, 
• offering an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job, 
• being flexible when assessing people so disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job, 
• proactively offering and making reasonable adjustments as required, 
• encouraging your suppliers and partner firms to be Disability Confident, 
• ensuring employees have appropriate disability equality awareness. 

Employers must also commit to performing one of the following activities:

• providing work experience, 
• providing work trials, 
• providing paid employment (permanent or fixed-term), 
• providing apprenticeships, 
• providing a traineeship, 
• providing paid internships or supported internships (or both), 
• advertising vacancies and other opportunities through organisations and media aimed particularly at disabled people, 
• engaging with Jobcentre Plus, Work and Health Programme providers, 
• providing an environment that is inclusive and accessible for staff, clients and customers, 
• offering other innovative and effective approaches to encourage disabled people to apply for opportunities and supporting them when they do. 

Theme 2 – Keeping and developing your people

Theme 2 focuses on your existing disabled employees. Employers must meet all of the following criteria:

• promoting a culture of being Disability Confident, 
• supporting employees to manage their disabilities or health conditions, 
• ensuring there are no barriers to the development and progression of disabled staff, 
• ensuring managers are aware of how they can support staff who are sick or absent from work, 
• valuing and listening to feedback from disabled staff, 
• reviewing the Disability Confident Employer self-assessment regularly. 

Employers must also commit to performing one of the following activities:

• providing mentoring, coaching, buddying and/or other support networks for staff, 
• including disability awareness equality training in our induction process, 
• guiding staff to information and advice on mental health conditions, 
• providing occupational health services if required, 
• identifying and sharing good practices in supporting disabled people, 
• providing human resource managers with specific Disability Confident training. 

Disability Confident Level 2 – Further information

See our Disability Confident Toolkit resources on Disability Confident Level 2 for more information.

Level 3 – Disability Confident Leader

Level 3 builds on the work carried out for Level 2. It focuses on 3 areas:

• Challenge – having your self-assessment validated by named and authorised external validator(s) who are confident that you are meeting all the core requirements. You also have to show them that you are employing disabled people. 
• Leadership – you are providing a narrative of the activities you have taken or are taking in support of being a Disability Confident Leader. 
• Reporting on disability, mental health and wellbeing – by referring to the Voluntary Reporting Framework. You are taking action to record and report on disability, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. 

Level 3 requires validation from an external organisation, such as Business Disability Forum. Contact us if you would like support or further information.

See our Disability Confident Toolkit resources on Disability Confident Level 3 for more information.

How Business Disability Forum can support your organisation with Disability Confident

Business Disability Forum can support your organisation with every step of Disability Confident.

• Members can rely on their Business Partner for guidance and further information,
• Our Advice Service provides expert advice and reviews of documentation throughout the process,
• We also validate Disability Confident Level 3 submissions.

See our resource on ‘How Business Disability Forum can help with your Disability Confident journey’ in our Disability Confident Toolkit for more information.

Further information

• Refer to our Disability Confident Toolkit for more information and step-by-step guidance.
• Contact our Advice Service for tailored guidance.