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Think Work First: The transition from education to work for young disabled people Contents

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Chapter 5: Going to work: overcoming discrimination and securing rights

130.Even where young disabled people have had all the support they need at school and university and have the skills required to enter the workforce, they still need to secure a job and get the equipment and resources they need to succeed in the workplace. Our witnesses told us just how challenging this can be.

Discrimination

131.Many different witnesses highlighted discrimination in the workplace. In the words of the Trades Union Congress, “young disabled workers face disadvantages and discrimination at all stages of their employment journey.”235 Amy Little Head of Advocacy at Leonard Cheshire stated that one in five employers, “told us that they would be less likely to hire a disabled person.”236 Deirdre Costigan, Unison’s National Officer for Disability Equality, told us that “discrimination is the number one issue that young people face in entering the workplace.”237 Scope reported that “34% of working age disabled people … had experienced discrimination from either their line manager or a colleague”238 and the EHRC told us that disability discrimination is “the most prevalent form of discrimination in claims made to Acas and employment tribunals”.239

132.Even where there is no active or overt discrimination, several contributors noted that the fundamental view of disabled people in the workplace was “deficit focused”240 with a greater “emphasis on what a person can’t do than what they can do.”241 One participant in our engagement events memorably recounted being asked “why should I hire a disabled person to do half a job when I can hire a non-disabled person to do a full job?”.242

133.HfT, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities, told us that an additional concern for some employers was whether disabled employees “would be mistreated by other employees”.243 As Dr Brewer told us, “disabled employees … are more likely to experience discrimination, bullying and harassment than non-disabled colleagues”,244 and Scope noted that these experiences played a significant part in disabled people’s decisions to leave the workplace.245 Moreover, we were told that some employers, far from acting to prevent such behaviour, tended to lay the blame for such mistreatment on the disabled employee without “considering the behaviour of other staff or contextual workplace factors, like lack of support”.246 These issues and perceptions, along with concerns about the perceived cost and difficulty of making workplace adjustments, mean that many employers decide simply not to employ a disabled person rather than learn how to do so.247

134.We heard that such discrimination can also be seen in recruitment processes,248 and that disabled people may not be able to access interviews or information about them due to inaccessible formats, locations and websites.249 Young disabled people told the Committee that they had been routinely advised not to tell prospective employers that they had a disability during recruitment processes to avoid discrimination.250 One said she deliberately waited until the interview stage to let recruiters know that she was a wheelchair user as this was “the only way that I can get a chance”. She remarked that interviewers tended to respond more positively “when you are a person in front of them.”251

135.Despite the introduction of disability discrimination legislation over the past 30 years, disabled people still face discrimination in the workplace and significant numbers of employers hold discriminatory views. For disabled people to access, remain and thrive in work, this must end.

Workplace rights

136.Disability is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. The Act means that it is against the law for employers to discriminate on the grounds of disability at all stages of employment, from initial application to termination and beyond. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination under the Act if the employer knows or could reasonably be expected to know the employee has a disability.252 This right is asymmetrical, meaning that it is not unlawful “to treat disabled people more favourably than non-disabled people”253 because doing so does not disadvantage non-disabled people.

Reasonable Adjustments

137.One of the primary duties under the Act for those employing disabled people is to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for the employee’s disability.254 Reasonable adjustments are changes that “reduce a disadvantage related to someone’s disability.”255 ‘Reasonable’ is not defined in the Act, but Acas states that “employers must consider practicality, affordability, effectiveness, and the impact on the health and safety of others.”256 Adjustments can include providing specialist equipment, changing someone’s working arrangements, or finding a different way of doing something.

138.Despite this legal backing, the Youth Futures Foundation reported that young disabled people “often felt it was necessary to have to make a lot of noise before [they] were able to receive these adjustments and support”.257 Deirdre Costigan told us that “the biggest reason [for refusing adjustments] is the impact it would have on other staff members” due to the perception of it being “unfair” for disabled staff to receive support that non-disabled staff do not.258 This suggests that employers or staff do not understand the asymmetrical nature of the protection afforded by the Act in the case of disability. An additional issue was the lack of any specified timeline for responding to a request for reasonable adjustments, meaning that some requests “were just ignored by management and never got a response”.259 She called for the introduction of a two-week deadline for employers to respond to reasonable adjustment requests.

139.We recognise the need for a clear timeframe for responding to a request for a reasonable adjustment. However, we consider that, taking into account the day-to-day pressures on businesses and employers, four weeks would be a more appropriate deadline than two weeks.

140.The Government should introduce a four-week deadline within which employers are obliged to respond to an employee’s request for a reasonable adjustment. The Government should explore the means by which compliance with the deadline could be monitored and enforced, both by Government and, where appropriate, by the employee themselves.

Poor employer awareness of disability rights in the workplace

141.Several witnesses noted a general lack of understanding of the right to reasonable adjustments among employers.260 This may be compounded by the fact that different employers have different interpretations of what constitutes a reasonable adjustment, leading to widespread inconsistency. This view was not, however, universal: David Hale, Head of Policy Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, argued that “a vanishingly small number of employers are not aware about what rights disabled people have in the workplace. Nearly every employer will have a decent level of awareness”.261

142.Scope reported that 53 per cent of employers were “worried their line managers would not be able to understand the challenges faced by disabled people”262 and evidence from a variety of contributors highlighted employers’ “fear of getting it wrong” with a disabled employee.263 However, Adrian Ashton, a parent of three young disabled people and business consultant with experience in supporting employers with disability issues, argued that, rather than seek more information, employers may instead “elect not to do anything—thus reducing the potential opportunities for young people with a disability”.264

143.Some employers appear to have a poor understanding of the rights of disabled people in the workplace and how to uphold them.

144.Within the next 12 months the Government should launch a campaign aimed at improving attitudes towards disabled people in the workplace. This should be developed in partnership with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations and be targeted at employers.

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