Workplace equality and diversity initiatives have grown in recent years and have focused on a range of protected characteristics identified in the Equality Act 2010. However, much of that focus has been on Race, Sexual Orientation, Gender Reassignment and Religion. Yet, disability affects almost one if five of the UK population and statistically disabled people are more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive.
Primarily, the Equality Act 2010 should focus our work on advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it as well as fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
Disability is still often misunderstood, especially in the case of mental health, and getting a better understanding of the lived experiences of our disabled staff must be a priority for employers. Only by having this understanding and input from staff can we actually advance equality of opportunity for disabled staff in the work place. Furthermore, by raising awareness of disability issues we can encourage organisational wide discussion and foster good relations between people with a disability and those without.
Some facts about disabilities in the UK:
- There are around 13.3 million disabled people in the UK (almost one in five of the population).
- 5 million disabled people are in employment, compared to 2.9 million in 2013.
- In January 2016, the UK employment rate among working age disabled people was 46.5% (4.1 million), compared to 84% of non-disabled people.
- Disabled adults are nearly three times as likely as non-disabled adults to have no formal qualifications, 30% and 11% respectively.
- The average income of families with disabled children is £15,270, which is 23.5% below the UK mean income of £19,968. 21.8% have incomes that are less than 50% the UK mean.
NHS England launches the Workforce Disability Standard (WDES)
The NHS has recently launched the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) which is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) that will enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of Disabled and non-disabled staff. This information will then be used by the relevant NHS organisation to develop a local action plan, and enable them to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality.
Making a difference for disabled staff
The NHS employs close to 1.5 million people and so initiatives such as WDES are vital to better understand the experiences of their disabled staff. It will support positive change for existing employees, and enable a more inclusive environment for disabled people working in the NHS. Likewise, it will help identify good practice and compare performance regionally and by type of trust.
What can other sectors learn from the NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard?
Large organisations need a snapshot of the experiences of their disabled staff in key areas. By providing comparative data between disabled and non-disabled staff, this information can be used to understand where key differences lie; and will provide the basis for the development of action plans, enabling organisations to track progress on a year by year basis. This provides a mirror for the organisation to hold up to itself, to see whether or not it sees a reflection of the communities that it serves.
JD
The Equality Blog 