Employment: Disability

(asked on 31st October 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that employers transferred from the Two Ticks scheme to the Disability Confident scheme are meeting the requirements for which they are being accredited.


Answered by
Penny Mordaunt Portrait
Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This question was answered on 8th November 2016

The previous Positive about Disability (Two Ticks) scheme has been replaced by the new Disability Confident scheme, which was formally launched on 2 November 2016 with attendant publicity aimed at both employers and disabled people. Prior to the change there were about 3,500 employers listed as “Two Ticks”. There are currently more than 2,400 employers signed up to Disability Confident, with that number growing daily.

The new scheme has been designed to give employers the tools they need to recruit, retain and develop disabled staff. Employers currently registered with the Two Ticks scheme are invited to transfer to Disability Confident. If they accept, they are sent the Disability Confident Employer self-assessment pack and allowed 12 months to undertake the self-assessment.

Some employers have chosen to undertake the self-assessment straight away. In submitting details to be awarded Disability Confident Employer, the employer is required to confirm that they have undertaken the self-assessment.

No validation of the self-assessment is required. However, to reach the highest level of Disability Confident Leader, a business must put that assessment up for external challenge, which could include examination by disabled groups, disabled staff networks or professional assessment bodies.

The new Disability Confident scheme went live in a test and learn phase from July 2016. Feedback was considered and changes made to the scheme before it was launched on 2nd November. The effectiveness of the scheme will now be closely monitored, looking at the number of employers signed up by sector and by geographic area, as well as such issues as what offers of employment, apprenticeships, internships, etc. they are making and delivering.

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