Vocational Guidance: Specific Learning Difficulties

(asked on 11th May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government where the framework for the advice that the careers services provide to jobseekers with (1) dyslexia, and (2) other specific learning difficulties, can be found online.


Answered by
Baroness Barran Portrait
Baroness Barran
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 22nd May 2023

The National Careers Service (the Service) provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the Labour Market in England.

The Service helps customers make informed choices about their career options, whatever their age, ethnic group and background. Discussions are tailored to meet the individual needs and circumstances of each customer, such as those with dyslexia and other additional needs.

The more in-depth, community-based service offers intensive support to adults (including jobseekers) with special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities as one of the six priority groups for the Service.

Alongside the community-based service, customers can access the service via the National Careers Service website here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/. The department is committed to ensuring the website is accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The Service’s Accessibility Statement contains information about the accessibility of the website, steps that individuals can take if they cannot access parts of the website and contact details to allow individuals to report accessibility problems. The Accessibility Statement can be found here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/help/accessibility.

Development of the online service is supported by significant user research, including users with SEND. Where possible, research is undertaken across a representative range of users, including those with disabilities. Components are also tested to make sure they work with a broad range of browsers, devices and assistive technologies, including screen magnifiers, screen readers and speech recognition tools.

The following webpage sets out additional, specific job support for individuals with SEND and additional needs: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/career-and-job-support-for-people-with-a-disability. This includes signposting to the British Dyslexia Association for learning disability job support.

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