UK Government publishes its Disability Action Plan

The Government has launched its new Disability Action Plan comprising 32 steps designed to make the UK the most accessible place in the world for disabled people to live, work and thrive. It follows a consultation which took place last summer and sits alongside the National Disability Strategy which outlines the Government’s long-term vision for transforming disabled people’s lives for the better. We’ll speak to a diversity specialist about what employers can take from it.

Paragraph 5.6 of the Plan refers to Action 18 which is probably the most relevant to employers. It mentions ongoing improvements to the Disability Confident Scheme, the voluntary scheme aimed at providing employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to attract, retain, and develop disabled people in the workplace. In particular, it mentions a proposal for a ‘Disability Enabled Badge’ which would be awarded to businesses that trained their staff in disability awareness. The scheme would be voluntary, with training paid for by the businesses and services that take part. 

Aside from that, the Plan doesn’t say a lot about employment and that has led to some criticism. Personnel Today picks up on that with their headline ‘Employment missing from government’s disability action plan’. They quote Diane Lightfoot, CEO of the Business Disability Forum who hoped to see greater investment in programmes such as Access to Work which is missing from the plan. Similarly, Sandi Wassmer, CEO of The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion says he would have liked to see more on the recruitment, retention, and progression of disabled talent in the workplace, although, in the government’s defence, the Disability Confident Scheme does cover that. 

So, let’s get a view on this. Amy Hextell is a diversity specialist with expertise in this area and earlier she joined me by video-link to discuss the plan: 

Amy Hextell: “Yes, this action plan from the government follows on from the National Disability Strategy and the Action Plan is noticeably lacking, I would say, in respect of employment and disability in the workplace. I don't think that's necessarily because the strategy as a whole is lacking. The idea of this Action Plan is that it's meant to be short term actions in the wake of the strategy that can be achieved relatively straightforwardly but, I have to say having looked at it, employment really is noticeably lacking from it which is disappointing and, as a general point, really, the actions are still quite woolly, still quite vague, and nothing really that measurable. So, slightly disappointing, I would say, from the government in respect of the Action Plan and certainly for employers, but also those employees with disabilities who were hoping for something helpful from this, I think.”

Joe Glavina: “The plan does appear to build on the Disability Confident Scheme which is something you’ve talked about previously and I know a number of clients have signed up to. Can you tell me more about that?”

Amy Hextell: “The Disability Confident Scheme is something that I think is really useful and, actually,  having looked at it again recently myself, there's some really helpful guidance for employers in there. There are checklists that can be used for the different levels that you can achieve as part of your accreditation and even if you're not looking to be accredited as part of the scheme, those checklists include actions a bit more like an action plan than this government action plan really, for things employers can be doing to improve inclusion for disabled employees in the workplace. The focus isn't just on reasonable adjustments although, of course, there's lots of stuff about that in there, but it’s around ideas to change the literature that's used within organisations, to be more inclusive of disabled people, and has some really good ideas for how employers can actually take tangible steps. I think what quite often lacks in this area is some real, tangible takeaways and things that you can put in place but there are lots of links within the Disability Confident Scheme to charities as well, particularly in relation to mental health. So, MIND have got a really useful quick guide in relation to mental health at work and simple actions that can be taken in relation to that. So, I think that's another really good resource that the government have got out there, and supported by the charities, that employers could be looking at in this regard.”

Joe Glavina: “So what are your clients doing in this space, Amy?”

Amy Hextell: “I'm having an experience at the moment of clients really getting involved, actually, in this this area of disability in the workplace. I think up until now it has been further down the list as opposed to gender and, perhaps, race and ethnicity but there seems to be a real drive around this for 2024, and beyond. For example, I've had large clients come to me looking at doing an overhaul, really, of their reasonable adjustments processes. So, recognising that there is a need to ensure that adjustments in place not only remain relevant for removing disadvantage, but are still reasonable for the business and this particular employer had adjustments that had been placed for 20 plus years, and the organisation was an entirely different organisation 20 years ago so they've done an overhaul. That has involved looking at how adjustments can be assessed, so putting in place adjustment panels which involve not only HR, but discussions with the line manager and the individuals involved as well, so that there's a more sort of collaborative view and a view across the organisation of the adjustments that are in place; during the relaunch of all the policy documentation around that and some real helpful guidance, again, with more up to date suggestions for the reasonable adjustments that might be put in place. So, the use of AI and technology is a big area so if you've got adjustments that were put in place 20 years ago it just won't have been envisaged and now might be adjustments that would be very helpful. So focus on that. Also, a change of some of the language. So again, employers more generally have been coming to us looking at tone of voice across all of their policies and the employee lifecycle but, specifically in relation to disability, a move away from the technical legal language of reasonable adjustments and instead the reference perhaps to workplace adjustments, or workplace amendments, or supporting disabled colleagues, as opposed to making reasonable adjustments. Similarly with mental health, and this is something that I hadn't really thought about until recently and I was discussing it with the client, I think even describing mental health as being an issue, it can have quite a negative connotation still, and instead switching it to a mental fitness as a term, which I know perhaps seems like, well, what's the difference, it’s just one word, but, actually, we often talk about our physical fitness so why would it not be our mental fitness as opposed to our mental health, and I think it puts a more positive spin and connotation on that. So, simple things, or seemingly simple things like that, in respect to tone of voice. In relation to other areas of focus for HR teams, and associated with this, neuro-divergence continues to be an area of real focus. A lot has been said about it over the last couple of years and I think it's quite easy for employers to speak the good speak about, well, we want to encourage neuro-inclusion and neuro-divergence within our organisation because of the skills that those people have, without really properly understanding what those skills are, and until we're getting people that do have neuro-divergent conditions involved in that conversation, it's actually sometimes quite hard to identify what those skills and attributes are that can be of real assistance because if you're not neurodivergent, you quite often don't realise that things you might not enjoy doing as part of your role are absolutely the sort of things that other people will do. So, that's formed a lot of our conversation with employers over the last couple of months, and certainly going into the next 12 to 18 months.”

Joe Glavina: “You mentioned reasonable adjustments and that phrase makes you think of the Equality Act, and the steps employers need to take to avoid disability discrimination but, actually, these days it has a much wider connotation, doesn’t it?”

Amy Hextell: “It has. I think the term reasonable adjustments, you know, obviously, within the legal team, if you're seeking advice from us, it will often be something that we're talking about and that, of course, is what the terminology within the Equality Act is, but I think employers need to be moving away from simple legal compliance and making reasonable adjustments. It's much more now about real, genuine inclusion of those with disabilities and so using language such as workplace adjustments, or workplace amendments, using support as opposed to adjustments, again, it sounds like it may be just semantics but, actually, it can make a real difference to not only how you approach things as an employer, but from the perspective of somebody who is living and working with a disability, seeing those changes, as long as they are then backed up by action. It’s not simply enough just to change the language you're using, but actually seeing a genuine effort by an employer to be more inclusive, even if they get it wrong sometimes, I think that sometimes prevents employers from taking steps that they're worried about getting something wrong but actually if they take that step and can be shown to be trying to make some positive change around the use of language, and tone of voice, then that will go a long way in encouraging those with disabilities to be part of that conversation and involved in perhaps shaping some of your policies and processes in the future.”

The Disability Action Plan was published by the Government on 5 February. We’ve included a link to it in the transcript of this programme.

LINKS
- Link to Disability Action Plan