Scope reaches 20% target for disabled staff

A variety of initiatives has helped disability charity Scope to secure 20% representation of disabled people among its 3,300-strong workforce.

By the end of 2007, one in five Scope workers was disabled — up from one in 25 just three years earlier, and double the 10% of disabled people typically employed in UK workplaces.

The charity had launched its initiative to increase disabled representation after it carried out a review of its staffing patterns in 2004. This revealed that 4% of its workers were disabled, human resources director Joe Bennett recalled last month — but although this was considered to be “a normal figure” for an employer, “as a leading disability organisation it wasn’t really right for us.”

The charity subsequently introduced a series of initiatives such as awareness training for managers and a reserved-post policy for disabled workers, designed to make the workplace culture more disability-friendly.

Explaining the reasons for the reserved-post scheme, Bennett told People Management magazine: “Because we’re an organisation about disabled people, supporting them and campaigning with them, [we felt that] we should have a large number of disabled people working for us.”

In Bennett’s view, the scheme has encouraged more disabled applicants to apply for jobs at Scope, since they now believe that they have a real possibility of being appointed. The policy has been well received by existing staff, he added, because “everyone who works at Scope is working towards disabled people achieving equality”.