Recruiting and employing disabled people

Advice on disability and funding for employers

The Department for Work and Pensions' Jobcentre Plus provides information and advice to employers to support them in adopting good employment policies and practices in the recruitment, retention, training and career development of disabled people. Read about assistance for employers wanting to employ disabled people on the Jobcentre Plus website.

Jobcentre Plus operates a scheme called Access to Work. This helps disabled people to get or keep jobs by contributing towards their extra employment costs. It provides advice and practical support to disabled people and their employers to help overcome work related obstacles.

The scheme may pay a grant of up to 100 per cent of the approved costs for someone who is starting a job with you. For existing employees, the grant may provide 80 per cent of the approved costs over the first £300. Read about the Access to Work scheme on the Jobcentre Plus website.

Talk to a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) at your local Jobcentre Plus for further advice on employing disabled people. Search for your local Jobcentre Plus office on the Jobcentre Plus website.

You can also talk to a DEA about the Job Introduction Scheme, which can provide a weekly grant towards the employment or training costs for the first six weeks of employing a disabled person. This gives you and the new employee time to discover whether the job is right for them. Read about the Job Introduction Scheme on the Jobcentre Plus website.

WorkStep is an individually tailored package of practical support for employers with disabled employees whose needs are more complex. Find out about Workstep on the Jobcentre Plus website.

The Work Preparation programme is designed to let disabled people try out different types of work. Jobcentre Plus arranges these placements. Read about the Work Preparation programme on the Jobcentre Plus website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• The business case for employing disabled people
• Advice on disability and funding for employers
• Recruiting disabled people to work for your business
• Helping disabled employees in your business
• When an employee becomes disabled
• What the law says on employing disabled staff

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