Disability Confident employer

Disability Confident and what it means for you

Disability Confident is the government's scheme aimed to help talented people with disabilities and health conditions get noticed by employers.

As a Disability Confident workplace, Preston City Council promotes both equal opportunities through our recruitment process and a positive culture across our services.

We are dedicated to retaining and developing our disabled employees.

Definition of disability

You are disabled under the GOV.UK - Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a 'substantial' and 'long-term' adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities

This means:

• you must have an impairment that is either physical or mental
• the impairment must have adverse effects that are substantial
• substantial adverse effects must be long term, for example it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed
• long-term substantial adverse effects must be effects on normal day-to-day activities such as a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection

Our commitment to being a Disability Confident employer

As a Disability Confident employer we have committed to undertake these core actions:

• Actively looking to attract and retain disabled people
• Providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process
• You will automatically be invited to the first formal stage of the recruitment process if you meet the essential job criteria
• Flexibility when assessing people so disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job
• Proactively offering and making reasonable adjustments as required
• Encouraging our suppliers and partner firms to be Disability Confident
• Ensuring employees have appropriate disability equality awareness
• Promoting a culture of being disability confident
• Supporting employees to manage their disabilities or health conditions
• Ensuring managers are aware of how they can support staff who are sick or absent from work
• Valuing and listening to feedback from disabled people

How does the recruitment process work?

You will be asked if you consider yourself to have a disability. If you select yes, our Disability Confident symbol lets you know:

• You will automatically be invited to the first formal stage of the recruitment process if you meet the essential job criteria.
• We will make reasonable adjustments to ensure you are considered for the job on an equal basis with other applicants.

You can also inform us of any special requirements that you may need for the interview or any other selection process. If you feel there are any reasonable adjustments that could help you then please do let us know when applying for the job. 

A false declaration of disability to obtain an interview will invalidate any contract of employment.

Additional support

More information on Looking for work if you're disabled is available on the GOV.UK - Looking for work if Disabled website.

In addition Scope offer support with their online training tools which include an ability profiler, a CV and cover letter builder and career advice and lots more.