Employers make equality changes to application forms

More than half the employers in an Industrial Relations Services (IRS) survey have changed their job application forms in the past two years, mainly as a result of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Many employers have started asking applicants if they have a disability, which helps them to comply with the requirement to make reasonable adjustments for interviewing disabled applicants. The survey found that employers were starting to include application guidelines for people with a disability.

Employers had also modified application forms to expand the ethnic monitoring questions and others had devised forms that separate personal details from the rest of the form so that those doing the shortlisting for interview only have access to relevant information.

Employee Development Bulletin, May 2000, IRS, 18-20 Highbury Place, N5 1QP, telephone: 020 7354 5858.