Knowing what local assistance is available when you are hiring a disabled person is crucial for everyone involved. At Careers with Disabilities, we want everyone to have access to the support they need. Therefore, this page aims to help you, as an employer, find the right local assistance for you. This will help both you and your future employees stay safe and happy for a long time to come. 

If you have never recruited or employed a disabled person before, there can be a few uncertainties on your mind. You might even find some questions and queries along the way that may seem very difficult to figure out and overcome. Fortunately, there is now a wide array of organisations and institutions set up to support you. There are people who can help you specifically with both the hiring process in recruiting disabled employees and provide further assistance once you have a disabled employee in your company, whether they suffer with a visible disability or a non-visible disability. 

Having access to the appropriate channels of support makes all the difference. Especially when it comes to hiring members of the disabled community. With the right guidance and advice, you will be easily able to make your company more accommodating, accessible, and inclusive. Which is a very important and admirable thing to do.

With the right local assistance, you can also ensure that both your business and your future disabled staff members are able to reach their full potential. When things are done the right way, it is better for everyone involved and much better results can be achieved in every area.

With that in mind, this page is going to tell you about some of your options for local assistance when hiring a disabled person.

Please note that we are still in the process of compiling this information. There may be other options in your area that are not listed here. It is always good to check out all of your options before you make any decisions or take any action. 

Local Assistance for Employers

JobCentre Plus

Your first port of call for accessing local assistance in the employment process will be your local JobCentre Plus. These facilities are able to offer free advice and coaching services to both employees and employers. JCP can help fulfil the government’s Access to Work programme. This is a programme in which your business can receive up to £60,700 per year in support of making your workplace accessible. You can be reimbursed up to this figure for any money you spend on accessibility equipment, support services, additional training, designated transport, and so on. For specific details on this scheme and how to access it, go to our funding guide.

As mentioned, JobCentre Plus centres can also deliver their own range of support or guidance. One service your local JCP may deliver is a ‘work trial’. This is when a disabled person who may not otherwise be able to undertake a formal interview, can demonstrate their skills in the work setting. This allows people who would otherwise be disadvantaged by certain interview processes to get the jobs they are able to do.

The Local Council

Every local council will have its own budget, and therefore its own grants and schemes. They will have specific grants and schemes for delivering personalised assistance to disabled employees and the employers who would like to hire them. What exact support they have, however, will depend on the individual council. It is well worth speaking to your local representatives for more information.

To give you a better idea of what may be available, the following is a list of the services that North Yorkshire Council Council offers for employers:

  • A Supported Employment Coordinator to offer information, guidance and support
  • Skills matching – matching the right employee to the right job
  • Help with signposting to other local services and streams of support
  • Working interviews/work trials, in which they help a disabled person have an unconventional interview so they can properly demonstrate their skills
  • Extra training or resources for the (potential) employee
  • Mediation services between employer and employee
  • Job Introduction Scheme, a grant that offers a set sum for 6 weeks to help cover employment costs

If you want to find out more information on what your own local council offers, check out this page that has links to all the UK’s local council websites and contact information.

Local Charities or NGOs:

The UK has nearly a thousand charities that help people with disabilities in one regard or another. This means that there will be a charity that will offer support to your disabled staff. Even if there is not a local charity that offers direct support to you as an employer. Remember that what’s good for them, is good for you too.

Some charities, such as BASE-UK, will offer you personalised guidance and assistance as an employer who is looking to hire disabled people, helping you hire appropriately and retain your staff for longer.

For more information on different charities that might be able to help you hire more disabled employees, you can search for charities and local assistance in your area.

Business Disability Forum: 

Finally, for support from other UK businesses who are either going through or have gone through the same process of becoming accessible, have a look through the not-for-profit business disability forum and connect with others.

It is always good to hear other points of view and other people’s experiences with the same thing you are currently going through. This means that all businesses can learn together and try and improve together.

At the end of the day, hiring disabled people is a very important thing to do. For companies, the disabled community, and the economy itself. Hiring more disabled members of staff is an action that can bring a lot of positive results. It is one that is certainly worthwhile. 

Having the right guidance and support through this worthwhile process will make everything even better for everyone involved. Hopefully, our list of potential support sources will help you out on your journey to being a more accessible and inclusive employer.

For more general support and advice, you check out our specialized resources on Careers with Disabilities. You can also get in touch with us directly to find out more about what we can do to support employers.

When you are ready,  you can post inclusive job postings on our platform via our live job board. We can help you make them as inclusive as possible first and then you are free to make the most of an inclusive, accessible platform to post jobs to a wide, diverse audience. 

With a mix of local assistance and our expert guidance, you can be the best inclusive employer out there. You can start your journey today, here on Careers with Disabilities.

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