Employ and support people with disabilities
Help and advice when considering employing a person with a disability in Northern Ireland.
Employers who actively seek applications from people with disabilities have a much wider choice of potential employees, with a good range of skills and positive attitudes towards work.
The Health & Work Support Branch (HWSB), which is part of the Department for Communities (DfC), can provide you with specialist support to help you recruit and retain workers with disabilities.
HWSB staff can advise on:
- financial help or support to employ people with disabilities through Workable (NI) and Access to Work (NI)
- employment assessments
- accessibility of premises
- development of disability awareness
- development of disability best practice in your organisation
This guide outlines the services and help available to employers who wish to consider recruiting and employing people with disabilities.
Advantages of employing people with disabilities
Discover the business benefits of employing someone with a disability.
Being a fair and equal opportunities employer not only ensures you meet your legal requirements to prevent discrimination, but you will also tap into a diverse talent pool that can bring many benefits to your business. Employing people with a disability can save you money and boost the profitability of your business.
Benefits of employing people with a disability
Recruit from a wider talent pool
By opening opportunities to people with disabilities you can widen your recruitment pool helping you to attract staff with the skills and talent that can enable your business to grow and thrive.
Promoting an inclusive workplace culture
Hiring people with a disability enhances diversity in your workforce. It can help increase staff morale, motivation, and commitment by demonstrating a workplace culture that values all staff.
Access specialist knowledge and skills
Staff with a disability may bring in specialist knowledge and skills such as understanding the needs of disabled customers, creative problem solving, and having particular attention to detail. Workers with disabilities possess skills and experiences that can offer employers a competitive edge.
Minimise staff turnover
People with disabilities tend to seek stable and reliable work when looking for a job and so tend to stay in their posts longer, helping to reduce staff turnover. This minimises recruitment and training costs incurred to take on new staff. You will also retain staff with years of experience and know-how.
Attract new customers
Having a diverse workforce, including employing people with disabilities, can help you attract disabled customers and potentially a large revenue stream. Employees with a disability can help you look at things from a fresh perspective, develop empathy for customers’ needs, and gain a better understanding of what they value in a business or brand. When your business and its products and services are accessible, you can appeal to a much larger and much more diverse audience and customer base.
Procurement opportunities
By employing people with a disability, you will be able to meet any social responsibility recruitment clauses that may apply to access particular tender opportunities and public procurement exercises. See understanding social value in public procurement.
Enhance your corporate image
Being an equal employer makes you look good. Consumers prefer to give their business to organisations that show a strong sense of corporate responsibility including employing a diverse workforce.
Low-cost reasonable adjustments
There can be a stigma to employing someone with a disability. Some employers may unfairly think that reasonable adjustments will be costly and take a lot of time to implement. However, most reasonable adjustments in the workplace can be simple, free, or low cost and there can be government help towards any costs that are incurred.
Encouraging accessibility best practice
Employing people with a disability will help you see things from their perspective. It can encourage the adoption of best practices to create accessible environments using adaptive technologies that are useful to people with and without disabilities.
Recruiting people with disabilities
How employers can adjust and take positive steps to recruit people with disabilities.
It can be challenging for someone with a disability to get into employment. Opening up your talent pool to make it easier for people with a disability to apply for jobs can bring many benefits to your business - see advantages of employing someone with a disability.
Reasonable adjustments for job applicants
Employers can take a number of steps to make the recruitment process as fair as possible for all applicants by making reasonable adjustments so that applicants without a disability do not have an unfair advantage over those who do have a disability.
Employers must be aware of their legal obligations when recruiting. Under the Disability Discrimination Act, employers:
- must not discriminate against someone with a disability when they are applying for a job
- must consider making reasonable adjustments if an applicant with a disability is at a disadvantage compared to a non-disabled applicant
Employers must consider reasonable adjustments at every stage of the recruitment process:
Application form
If the format, layout or structure of the application form puts someone at a disadvantage you should consider having the application form available in large print, Braille or an audio version for someone who is partially sighted or blind.
Aptitude tests
You should consider making additional time available to complete aptitude tests for someone with a disability who requests a reasonable adjustment. Another adjustment could be allowing test answers to be given verbally.
Interview
Ensure the interview room is fully accessible to all applicants. Be aware that applicants may request a reasonable adjustment to be interviewed at a time when they are more alert or pain-free depending on their disability. Consider training for your interview panel that examines the impact of various disabilities on performance at the interview stage, eg how autism may provide a challenge to an applicant during an interview and how adjustments can be made to help them.
Taking positive action to treat disabled people more favourably
Employers can decide to take a step further in positively recruiting someone with a disability. Unlike other forms of equality legislation, the Disability Discrimination Act allows employers to treat people with a disability more favourably than others through positive action.
An employer is not legally obliged to take positive action but employers can lawfully take positive action steps to treat someone with a disability more favourably. There are a number of positive action measures which an employer can choose to take to recruit someone with a disability, including:
- ring-fencing certain jobs so that they are only open to people with a disability
- offering a guaranteed interview to applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for a post
- using non-traditional forms of assessment which may only disadvantage people with a disability
- offering work trial opportunities which may lead to permanent jobs if the placement is successful
- creating an alternative post within your organisation for a person with a disability if there are certain tasks they are unable to perform as a result of their disability
Positive action measures should be carefully planned with advice from appropriate support organisations. Employers must comply with other equality legislation - see avoid discrimination when recruiting staff.
Access disability support
There are a range of government initiatives to help employers take on staff with a disability and also help staff with a disability get the support they need in the workplace. For further information, see:
Health & Work Support Branch
The specialist support available to help disabled people start or retain employment.
The Health & Work Support Branch (HWSB) staff offers help and advice to both employers and people with disabilities about the range of specialist support available to help people start and retain a job.
You may identify someone who has the skills for your job but have questions about how their disability may affect them in the workplace - such as how they will manage the job. HWSB advisers are located across Northern Ireland and can offer practical advice to help both you and the potential employee overcome any barriers to starting work.
Support available
The type of support available may include advice on the following:
- recruiting people with disabilities
- retaining employees who become disabled
- financial help or support to employ people with disabilities through the Access to Work (NI) and Workable (NI)
- job/employee assessment and job/environment redesign
- equipment and ergonomics in the workplace
- accessibility of premises
- development of disability awareness
- development of good employment practices
- preparation, advice, and guidance to help people with disabilities who are applying for jobs
- encouraging employers to provide dedicated interview times for applicants with disabilities
- providing employers with advice on reasonable adjustments, such as additional time for interview
- offering the employer and the job applicant appropriate options of tailored support during the recruitment process
- offering the employer and the employee appropriate options of tailored support to help the worker with a disability perform to the best of their ability in the workplace
Disability support: Workable (NI)
Workable (NI) offers support and assistance to both employees and employers to help disabled people move into or retain work.
Workable (NI) provides a flexible range of long-term support and assists people who, due to their disability, encounter substantial barriers to staying in employment. Read more on Workable (NI).
The programme is delivered by three organisations contracted by the Department for Communities (DfC):
These organisations have extensive experience of meeting the vocational needs of people with disabilities. Read further information via the links above about Workable (NI) and the benefits to employers.
The provision under Workable (NI) can include support such as:
- mentoring
- on and off the job training
- disability awareness training
Disability support: Access to Work (NI)
Access to Work (NI) can provide advice and guidance for your employee's disability needs and if appropriate, a financial grant towards the cost of support.
Access to Work (NI) can help by providing advice and guidance of your employee's disability needs in the workplace and, if appropriate, a financial grant towards the cost of necessary support.
For example, Access to Work (NI) may be able to pay towards the following:
- adaptations to premises and equipment
- communicator support at interviews
- special aids and equipment
- travel to work costs
- a support worker
- travel within work eg to attend a meeting or training course
Depending on your employee's circumstances, Access to Work (NI) may be able to provide support under more than one of these areas.
Read more on Access to Work - practical help at work.
Disability support: Work Psychology Team
Further help, advice, and guidance in areas relating to work, disability, and health.
The Department for Communities' Work Psychology Service (WPS) offers specialist consultancy to individuals and/or employers seeking advice and guidance in areas relating to disability and wellbeing in the context of work.
The WPS works closely with Work Coaches in Jobs & Benefits Offices to offer advice and guidance regarding individuals who have a disability or health condition and are seeking work or who are experiencing difficulties in work.
The WPS Assessment Service can provide advice to both employers and individuals regarding reasonable adjustments and possible alternative employment options, when the individual is at risk of losing their job as a result of their disability or health condition.
Disability support: Condition Management Programme
The Condition Management Programme helps those with a health condition manage symptoms to allow progress towards, moving into and staying in employment.
The Condition Management Programme helps those with a health condition manage symptoms to allow progress towards, move into and stay in employment. The programme is led by healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists and mental health nurses.
The Condition Management Programme (CMP) gives support and advice to help people manage conditions including:
- arthritic complaints
- back and neck problems
- chronic fatigue
- depression
- pain
- stress
- heart, circulatory and respiratory disorders
The programme helps to:
- increase understand health conditions
- improve day to day functioning for those affected by health conditions
- increase confidence in those affected by health conditions
- improve your prospects of returning to work or staying in work
It offers advice, education and support on:
- dealing with stress, anxiety, low mood and depression
- coping with pain and fatigue
- relaxation techniques
- communicating with confidence
- developing a healthier lifestyle
- exploring potential options that will help you progress towards employment or help you make a successful return to work
Further information
If this support is something that you think you or your staff could benefit from see further details, including eligibility and how to apply, on the Condition Management Programme.
Other sources of support to help you employ people with disabilities
Find organisations that specialise in helping employers employ and support people with disabilities.
There are several organisations that offer specialised help to employers who employ people with disabilities. We have outlined some of the support services these organisations offer employers and how you can access these services.
Employers for Disability Northern Ireland
Employers for Disability NI (EFDNI) promotes disability positive practices by supporting employers and disabled people. They offer a number of support services to employers, including:
Training and awareness
Training and awareness sessions from EFDNI are available to any organisation, regardless of size. Member organisations can avail of their free training hours, with additional hours at a discounted member rate. The content and duration of each session is tailored depending on the organisation’s needs, and can be delivered online or in-person.
Popular training and awareness sessions include topics such as:
- mental health
- neurodiversity
- hidden or non-visible disabilities
- physical disabilities
- learning disabilities
- recruiting disabled people
- hearing and sight loss
Disability Positive Accreditation
EFDNI can provide Disability Positive Accreditation, which recognises local employers who put their commitment to the employment of disabled people into practice. The three As – audit, action and accreditation are the key steps involved. Those who complete these steps successfully will be recognised as a Disability Positive Employer with AAA status.
Information and support
Employers for Disability NI provides free, confidential support to disabled employees, their employers and managers. Their helpline offers information, signposting and emotional support. Their resolution service helps disabled employees and managers to identify adjustments and resolve any work-related challenges.
Wellbeing service
Employers for Disability NI provides mind and body therapy. This includes cognitive behavioural therapy, sleep awareness, stress management and therapeutic massage.
Read about the support services available from Employers for Disability NI.
Disability Action
Disability Action provides advice and support for employers considering employing somebody with a disability or needs advice to support an existing disabled employee.
Read about the support available for employers from Disability Action.
NOW Group
NOW Group provides a diverse range of solutions to businesses, such as recruitment assistance and supported employment. They also offer businesses inclusion and disability awareness training.
NOW Group works with employers to find staff for your organisation. Also, their supported employment service can work with you to support existing employees with a learning difficulty or disability. They work in partnership with your HR and management team to ensure that your employee remains in work and happy in their role.
Read about the business support services from the NOW Group.
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones works with employers to support inclusive, socially responsible hiring while helping them build stronger, more diverse teams. They work with employers to advise on specific issues or difficulties that an applicant may have and support employers to make reasonable adjustments to create a supportive working environment.
Employer partnerships
Stepping Stones provides a full package of support to their employer partners to help with socially responsible recruitment strategies that include:
- bespoke recruitment academies with job-ready training provided by their team
- six months of support on the job for employees and line managers
- inclusion and diversity training for hiring managers and team leads
Find out how to become a Stepping Stones employer partner.
Cedar Foundation
The Cedar Foundation delivers a range of services to support people with disabilities, autism and brain injury to live and work. The Cedar Foundation engages with businesses to explore how they can work together to develop opportunities for their participants and benefit their organisations.
The Cedar Foundation offers employers support with:
- promoting diversity and inclusion
- making reasonable adjustments and improving staff retention
- disability equality training for staff
- helping your employees with disabilities and health conditions
Read more about the help for employers from the Cedar Foundation.
Orchardville
Orchardville supports people with learning disability or autism to live, learn and work. They help promote inclusive employment with access to support, advice and opportunities to engage people with learning disabilities or autism in work experiences. Businesses can access free training on learning disability and autism and become employer champions.
Read more about the support for employers from Orchardville.
Association for Real Change Northern Ireland (ARC NI)
ARC NI works alongside people and organisations to help communities to respect, listen to and include people with a learning disability, autism and other support needs. They offer employers in the health and social care sector training and consultancy services.
Training
ARC NI runs several training courses on a range of topics, including:
- supporting people with a learning disability
- managing stress
- managing challenging behaviour
- mental health
- autism awareness
Consultancy
ARC NI’s health and social care consultants offer confidential advice and practical ways to help organisations, employers and managers. Their consultancy service offers workforce development reviews, policy reviews, and service reviews.
Read about the services available from ARC NI.
Action Mental Health
Action Mental Health delivers mental wellbeing training and consultancy focused on workplace mental health in Northern Ireland. These services are designed to support employers to promote wellbeing, and may help reduce staff absence and turnover.
Training programmes
Action Mental Health offers a number of training programmes, including:
- mental health awareness
- mental health first aid
- mindful manager
- compassionate conversations
- applied suicide intervention skills
Read more about the workplace support from Action Mental Health.
Mencap
Mencap can work with employers to provide opportunities for people with a learning disability and autism. Their support can include in-work assistance from caseworkers and skills coaches to help individuals understand and carry out workplace tasks.
Mencap can also work with employers and teams to identify and implement any reasonable adjustments that may be required, and to build confidence in supporting the individual in the workplace. Employers offering work experience may also have access to disability awareness training.
In addition, Mencap provides a range of resources for employers on how they can support people with a learning disability to access, stay in, and progress in work.
Read about the support for employers from Mencap.
Adapt NI
Adapt NI can help if you are recruiting or employing someone who is deaf, has hearing loss or tinnitus. They can help you with:
- recruitment advice and guidance
- advice and guidance to aid with deaf awareness
- support with reasonable adjustments in the workplace
- workplace deaf awareness and basic sign language training
Read more about the employer support from Adapt NI.
Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) NI
RNIB is a UK sight loss charity that offers practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people, as well as their families and carers. Its employment team in Northern Ireland provides specialist support and advice to help people with sight loss to find or remain in work.
RNIB’s business services
RNIB can help your business by offering the following services:
- document transcription
- digital accessibility services for web and mobile devices
- design and adapt products for a wider audience
- improve accessibility in your commercial premises
- upskill employees with training to support people with sight loss
Read more about RNIB’s business services.
Understanding sight loss e-learning for employers
RNIB NI offers a free e-learning course for employers and staff about working with blind or partially sighted colleagues. The course covers the impact of sight loss, workplace responsibilities, inclusive recruitment, accessibility and the use of assistive technology.
Read more about the understanding sight loss for employers e-learning course.
Using work trials to recruit people with disabilities - JP Corry
How JP Corry's Dromore branch has adapted its recruitment processes to take on a person with a disability.
JP Corry is one of Northern Ireland’s leading builder’s merchants, supplying building materials to the trade, self-build, DIY, and architectural markets. The business operates from a network of 17 branches across Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, employing around 265 staff.
Stephen Gibson, Branch Manager at JP Corry in Dromore, explains how the organisation has adapted their employment policies and recruitment processes to take on and support a person with a disability.
Reducing barriers for people with disabilities
"As a company, we strive to be inclusive and diverse. We want to make it easy for everyone to access our services, whether as a customer, supplier, or employee."
"JP Corry is proud to support the JAM Card scheme, which helps people with communication barriers and hidden disabilities receive tailored customer care. As a company whose purpose is to 'build our future by helping others build theirs', we believe in providing employment opportunities to disabled people."
"Our human resources team works closely with organisations that represent minority groups, such as Disability Action, NOW Group, and WOMEN'STEC, to ensure that they are informed of our employment opportunities."
Using work trials in our business
"JP Corry has equal opportunities policies and diversity training to ensure that we recruit staff fairly. Offering a work trial to potential recruits, particularly disabled people, has benefited both the individual and the business."
"Working with Disability Action, we set up our first work trial, where a disabled person came to work with us to understand what it would be like to be employed in our company before applying for a job. The experience was positive, and we recognised the potential of the person during the work trial. They subsequently applied for and secured the job successfully."
"Other branches of JP Corry have also seen the advantages of work trials and have adopted a similar approach by using the Work Experience Programme provided by the Department for Communities to offer employment opportunities."
Accessing local help and support
"Many local organisations have supported us along our journey with work trials. Some employees have completed a qualification in customer service through the NOW Group, providing insight into how disabled people can contribute to a high level of customer service. Disability Action has also been available to advise us when needed."
"To keep our organisation up-to-date and engaged, our HR team frequently attends employment conferences and training events. This continuous improvement activity along with the good relationships we have built with relevant charities and business support organisations ensures we have the support we need."
Lessons learned
"The work trials have benefited the organisation and the staff that we have hired. Some work trials will not always result in longer-term opportunities, but that can be positive as you haven't started formal training or invested significant time and resources into developing an employee who does not fit the job. It is better to discover at the trial stage whether it will work rather than going through a recruitment and onboarding process for it not to work out and needing to go back to the beginning of the recruitment process."
"Adapting our HR policies and practices to make it easier to recruit and support disabled people has enabled us to reach another talent pool and has enhanced our recruitment strategy. Our Dromore branch has benefited by getting a brilliant recruit who connects and engages with our customers. He brings positive energy to our team, and we have a better focus and understanding."