Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 118
We heard evidence that the Disability Confident Commitments (the criteria an employer must agree to...
Recommendation
We heard evidence that the Disability Confident Commitments (the criteria an employer must agree to in order to receive Level 1 accreditation) are not challenging 76 Disability employment gap enough for employers and focus too heavily on changing recruitment processes rather than committing employers to recruit and retain disabled employees. We also heard that employers can be awarded Disability Confident accreditation without having to recruit a single disabled person. As part of its evaluation, we recommend that the Department should consider whether the existing Disability Confident commitments, and the criteria at subsequent levels, is sufficiently challenging and encourages meaningful change from employers. We recommend that any new commitments should include a requirement for Disability Confident employers to recruit disabled people before being awarded a higher level of accreditation.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government response explains the payment model and incentives for the Restart Scheme, entirely failing to address the recommendation to review and strengthen the Disability Confident commitments and accreditation criteria to include a requirement for recruiting disabled people.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
118
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
At all levels, employers are required to adhere to key commitments within the scheme. At Disability Confident Committed (Level 1), this includes: attracting disabled people and ensuring that their recruitment processes are fully inclusive and accessible; communicating and promoting vacancies to attract disabled people; offering an interview to disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job; anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required; and supporting existing disabled employees to retain employment. It is unlikely that an organisation can become Disability Confident without employing a single disabled person. At levels 2 and 3 employers need to provide evidence of how they support their disabled employees, which would not be possible if they had no disabled employees. Employers at all levels must agree to undertake activities that will make a significant difference to the work-opportunities of disabled people. Throughout the learning journey employers review their policies and procedures against set criteria and gather evidence to demonstrate that their processes are inclusive and accessible to all and that they are supporting workplace opportunities for disabled people. As part of the Disability Confident review, we will consider whether the commitments, actions and guidance within the scheme’s criteria is sufficiently challenging and encourages meaningful change from employers. Health is Everyone’s Business (HIEB)
Read the full response on Parliament ↗