Disability inclusion: recruitment and selection

  • By Buckinghamshire Business First
HR and Recruitment
Email to a friend Twitter Facebook Linkedin

Share by email

Be aware that recruitment and selection practices could inadvertently create barriers for disabled people.

To find the most suitable person for a job, it's essential to have a recruitment process that attracts a wide range of people and allows all candidates, including those with disabilities or long-term health conditions, to showcase their abilities and potential.

The goal is to find someone with the skills, qualities, and experience needed for the role. Therefore, job descriptions, person specifications, application forms and interview questions should be clearly written and focused on achieving this goal. Employers should also be aware of the potential for unconscious bias to creep into recruitment practices, not only with regards to disability.

There are many minor adjustments that organisations can make to their recruitment processes that will help disabled people feel confident about applying for a role and enable all applicants to demonstrate their skills as potential employees. Many of these adjustments may also benefit non-disabled candidates and enhance overall efficiency in recruitment.

Developing a Disability Inclusive Workforce - an employer guide

The Disability Inclusion Guide explains the benefits of hiring disabled employees and is packed full of information and resources on how to:

  • support new and existing disabled employees
  • ensure your recruitment process does not exclude people based on disability
  • talk about disability in an inclusive way
  • learn about different disabilities and conditions
  • become a disability confident employer
  • develop the best team possible

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE HERE >

Job descriptions

Job descriptions often include skills that are not essential for the job to be carried out effectively. Qualities such as 'excellent communication skills' or 'good team player' are often included as default skills, even if they are not necessary – and some people with disabilities will not apply for jobs demanding these attributes.

This can mean that suitable applicants may assume themselves to be ineligible for a job even where they have strong skills that are directly relevant to the tasks involved.

Resources:

Job adverts

Job adverts should be concise and written in plain English. They should list essential skills, and avoid jargon or unnecessary information. The advert should be clearly presented, avoiding complex design.

Really try to be objective about what abilities and experiences are genuinely essential for the job to be done well, and leave out any that are not.

Resources:

Application forms

It is not always obvious what information an applicant needs to provide on an application form, so it's important to provide clear guidance on this. Make sure that the form includes a space for applicants to highlight any support or adjustments they may need at an interview. If you are asking an applicant to write about their skills or suitability for a role, it can be helpful to include a word count limit.

Resources:

Read advice from We Are Purple about building an accessible recruitment process.

Traditional interviews

Interviews - particularly ‘traditional’ conversational type interviews - rely heavily on social and communication skills. This means that some candidates, particularly those with learning disabilities or difficulties, may well struggle to 'sell themselves' in an interview, even if they have all the right skills. In particular, they may face challenges with:

  • understanding body language and maintaining appropriate eye contact
  • knowing how to start, maintain and end conversations or answers to questions
  • judging how much information to give – especially if questions are open
  • thinking in abstract ways, or considering 'what if?' scenarios
  • varying their tone of voice and finding the appropriate level of formality

Resources:

Alternative interview formats

If adapting your interview style to the needs of a disabled person sounds daunting, or if you feel that an interview might not be the best way to gauge the person’s suitability for the post, there are other options.

Consider a more hands-on type of interview centred around skills assessment versus character or personality assessments. Instead of asking “Is this candidate a culture fit?”, ask “Does this candidate have the skills to complete the task?” In this regard, you evaluate how the candidate can operate within a realistic approximation of the work environment. If you decide to use a skills assessment, ensure the assessment is carried out fairly and you are not taking advantage of the applicant by demanding skills that are beyond the scope of what the role requires.

You could also carry out a 'working interview', where you offer candidates the opportunity to work with your team for a day to see how well they fit into the company and to assess how well they can carry out the role.

Resources:

Careers with Disabilities have compiled further information on alternative interview formats

Reasonable adjustments

It is not enough for employers to provide disabled people with exactly the same working conditions as non-disabled people. If an employee is at a disadvantage due to their disability, the employer has a legal duty to make “reasonable adjustments” to mitigate the disadvantage and create a level playing field. This is a requirement of the UK Equality Act 2010, whose definition of disability is "if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities".

What is 'reasonable' depends on the context. It could include:

  • making changes to the workplace
  • changing someone's working arrangements
  • finding a different way to do something
  • providing equipment, services or support

Most adjustments are free or very low cost to implement and employers may be able to apply for Access to Work grants to help them implement larger or more costly adjustments. Some measures, such as providing equipment, do not need tax to be paid on them.

To ensure a fair recruitment process, you may need to make adjustments at each stage to avoid disadvantaging candidates with disabilities or health conditions. While you cannot ask about an individual’s health or disability during the recruitment process (except in limited circumstances), it's crucial to ask all applicants if they need any specific adjustments or arrangements for any part of the recruitment or selection process.

Provide every candidate the opportunity to discuss their needs in advance of an interview or other form of selection test. Avoid making assumptions about what adjustments are necessary or feasible. This proactive approach ensures all candidates have a fair chance to demonstrate their suitability for the role.

Read guidance on reasonable adjustments from the below sources:

Access to Work scheme

Tax and reasonable adjustments

If you provide equipment or services to a disabled employee so they can do their work, this does not count as a taxable benefit. This means:

  • you don’t have to report it to HMRC
  • you don’t pay tax or National Insurance on it

Interview supporters

Some disabled people and people with health conditions perform much better in interviews if they have a supporter with them. This person can act as a go-between to ease communication between the interviewer and the candidate, rewording any unclear questions for the candidate and helping them understand exactly what the interviewer wants.

The supporter will not answer on behalf of the applicant but may help to rephrase unsuitably worded questions (although ideally the employer should do this in preparation for the interview). The supporter can help them to communicate with the interviewees, in order to clarify their relevant knowledge and skills. This does not only benefit the candidate: it can also help employers understand what the candidate has to offer.

Individuals can apply to Access to Work to get money to pay for a communication support worker to go to their job interview with them. This support is available to people who:

  • are Deaf or hard of hearing and need a British Sign Language interpreter or lipspeaker
  • have a physical or mental health condition or learning difficulty and need communication support

Job trials

Some employers find that a work trial, or a period of work experience, is a better way of assessing skills than a formal interview. This approach may also help if you think that a neurodivergent person is likely to do well in a job but you have concerns about how well they will cope in the workplace.

If you would like to take this approach, Job Centre Plus can offer support and advice.

Positive action

Positive action refers to measures taken by employers to remove barriers or improve access for underrepresented groups. Examples include actively encouraging job applications from groups with underrepresented protected characteristics, such as disability, or offering training opportunities for specific groups. This differs from positive discrimination, which is unlawful.

Recruitment and promotion decisions must still be merit-based. The UK Equality Act 2010 allows organisations to take proportionate positive action, which should be balanced and based on evidence, typically as part of an organisation-wide strategy. Specialist advice is recommended when considering positive action.

Resources:

Guaranteed interviews

Employers participating in the Disability Confident scheme typically commit to offering disabled job applicants an interview if they meet the minimum criteria for the role. This form of positive action aims to encourage disabled individuals to apply for jobs and provides them an opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities during the interview. Even organisations who are not part of the Disability Confident scheme can adopt this approach to support disability inclusion. This commitment should be clearly stated in the job advertisement.

Other examples of things employers could do to ensure an inclusive recruitment process include:

  • Showing a clear commitment to inclusion: Clearly state in your recruitment literature that your organisation values inclusion and diversity and welcomes applications from people with disabilities or long-term health conditions.
  • Displaying a Disability Confident badge: Display your Disability Confident badge on your website, including your careers or job vacancy pages.
  • Diverse advertising: Advertise vacancies through various media to reach a diverse audience, including channels that specifically target disabled people.
  • Having an accessibility contact: Designate a team member as contact point for candidates who have questions about the recruitment process.

Need more information?

For more information and support, contact the Workforce Skills Team at Buckinghamshire Business First:

Disability inclusion: Language and behaviour – dos and don’ts

Disability inclusion: Language and behaviour – dos and don’ts

Many people are uncomfortable talking to disabled people, worried about saying the wrong thing. Here are some tips to overcome this barrier.
HR and Recruitment