Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the statutory safeguards to prevent people with disabilities being overlooked for promotion in employment.

The Equality Act 2010 states that it is unlawful direct discrimination for an employer to treat a disabled employee less favourably than one who does not have a disability. This would include decisions on promotion within an organisation.

The 2010 Act additionally places a reasonable adjustment duty on employers that could be relevant to how a promotion exercise is conducted, for example ensuring job application forms are accessible to visually impaired employees and job interviews are accessible to the deaf or hard of hearing.

The 2010 Act also enables employers to take positive action to increase the number of senior managers who are disabled, where this is disproportionately low. For example, where two candidates are equally qualified for a role and one is disabled, positive action allows the employer to select the disabled candidate.

Where disabled employees, as defined under the 2010 Act, feel that they have been unfairly passed over for promotion, they may discuss their concerns with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), which provides authoritative and impartial advice free to employees or employers in relation to employment discrimination issues via their website (http://www.acas.org.uk) and telephone helpline 0300 123 1100 or text relayservice to 18001 0300 123 1100. Acas also provides employees and employers with Early Conciliation to help them resolve/settle their workplace dispute without going to court.