Jobs and Careers Winter 2022/23 - 51

" Only around 50% of disabled
people are in paid work "
Jane Hatton, is Founder and
CEO of Evenbreak, a disability
support service
" There are approximately 14 million
disabled people in the UK, around
nine million are of working age (16
to 64). Only around 50% of disabled
people are in paid work, compared with around 80% of
non-disabled people. And disabled people are more likely
to be under-employed, and to be paid less.
Research suggests that the biggest barrier disabled
people face is not knowing which employers are genuinely
receptive to disabled candidates. Most aren't, wrongly
believing that disabled people are less productive, or
require expensive adjustments. This is rarely the case,
and Access to Work (gov.uk/access-to-work) can help with
additional expenses which may occur. Other barriers include
inaccessible recruitment processes, prejudices of recruiters
and lack of confidence following many rejections.
It helps to identify employers who are inclusive, for
example those who pay to advertise their vacancies on
specialist disability job boards like evenbreak.co.uk. Having
the government's Disability Confident badge is an indication
that the company has disability equality on its agenda.
There is no legal obligation for disabled candidates
to mention their condition to a prospective employer,
sometimes it may be prudent not to mention it until
or unless it suits the candidate to do so; if they require
adjustments in the recruitment process, for example,
it may be useful to ask for them in order to be assessed
on a level playing field. Seeing how the company
responds can be a good indication of whether they
are an inclusive employer. "
and the termination of employment.
Many employers are actively recruiting
people with disabilities, often through
specialist agencies. There's also plenty of
practical support available for disabled
jobseekers. Disability Rights has lots of
useful support and information (see box,
right).Support to Work is a free online and
telephone support programme for disabled
people in England and Wales who are
looking for paid work. Run by the charity
Scope, it offers help with everything from
writing a CV to e-Learning services. Call
0300 222 5742 to find out more.
Returning after retirement
'Unretirement' could boost your brain as
well as your finances. A study1
* suggests
that working longer is associated with a
To make yourself more
attractive to employers,
consider updating your skills
decreased risk of dementia. The advantages
cut both ways. " Companies value older
people because they can hit the ground
running and don't need extensive training
before they are up to speed, " says Jobs +
Careers executive editor Karren Brady.
To make yourself even more attractive
to potential employers, consider updating
your skills. Restless, the UK's fastest
growing digital community for the over
50s, lists a range of training courses on its
website (see box, right). It also has details
of age-friendly employers.
Work placements and volunteering can
also be a stepping-stone back to paid
employment. Search for volunteer
opportunities with a charity you believe
in, or through national organisations
such as Do-it or TimeBank.
Find out more
* Disability Rights UK:
disabilityrightsuk.org
* Women Returners:
womenreturners.com
* Working Mums:
workingmums.co.uk
* Job hunting:
timewisejobs.co.uk
glassdoor.co.uk
indeedflex.co.uk
* Scope: scope.org.uk
* Restless: restless.co.uk
* Government advice:
jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk
jobsandcareersmag.com /// JOBS & CAREERS /// 51
1 Eur J Epidemiol, 2014 May;29(5):353-61

http://gov.uk/access-to-work https://www.evenbreak.co.uk/en http://disabilityrightsuk.org https://womenreturners.com/ http://workingmums.co.uk http://workingmums.co.uk http://timewisejobs.co.uk http://www.glassdoor.co.uk http://indeedflex.co.uk http://scope.org.uk http://restless.co.uk https://jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk/ https://www.jobsandcareersmag.com/

Jobs and Careers Winter 2022/23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jobs and Careers Winter 2022/23