Disability Confident: Guidance For Applicants

Disability Confident supports employers to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.

As a Disability Confident employer we commit to:

All of the core actions to be a Disability Confident Employer
Offering at least one activity to get the right people for our organisation
At least one activity to keep and develop our people
Undertaking and successfully complete the Disability Confident self-assessment

1. What is Disability Confident?

Disability Confident is a government initiative designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with health conditions.

It is voluntary and has been developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives. Disability Confident has three levels that have been designed to support organisations:

Level 1: Disability Confident Committed
Level 2: Disability Confident Employer
Level 3: Disability Confident Leader

It aims to help employers make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people.

2. What level is Citizens Advice currently?

Citizens Advice is currently a Level 2: Disability Confident Employer. This means we currently assess ourselves around these two themes:

Getting the right people for our business
Keeping and developing our people

For an internal or external applicant we commit to:

Interviewing applicants with a disability who successfully evidence the essential criteria on a person specification and consider them on their abilities;
Providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process.
Making reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process so disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job.
Supporting employees and making adjustments during employment.

If appointed as a member of staff at Citizens Advice we can commit to:

Ensure there is a mechanism in place to discuss, at any time, but at least once a year, with disabled employees what can be done to ensure that they develop and use their abilities;
Make every effort when an employee becomes disabled to ensure that they stay in employment;
Take action to ensure that all employees develop an appropriate level of disability awareness to make these commitments work
Review the commitments each year and plan ways to improve the experience for disabled people by consulting key groups (including our Disability Network Group).

3. What is classified as a disability?

Under the Equality Act 2010, a disability is defined as a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life.

4. Which vacancies are covered by Disability Confident?

Disability Confident applies to all National Citizens Advice vacancies based in the UK.

5. How will candidates be assessed under Disability Confident?

Candidates that indicate they wish to apply to a Citizens Advice vacancy will be assessed on the essential criteria asked for at the application stage.

The criteria asked for will be drawn from the full list of essential criteria as outlined in the job advert and / or the candidate job pack under the section heading ‘Person Specification’.

We can offer an interview to Disability Confident candidates if they meet the criteria asked for at the application stage.

For example, a Consumer Services Advisor role has a candidate job pack available to download. The job pack has a section called “Person Specification”. Under this section, there are 8 essential criteria that the Consumer Services Advisor will need to have to be successful in the role.

The job advert asks candidates to submit a CV and a cover letter outlining how they meet the first 3 essential criteria outlined in the Person Specification found in the job pack. If a Disability Confident candidate submits a CV and a cover letter that clearly evidences how they meet the first 3 criteria and gives good examples, Citizens Advice may offer them an interview.

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all Disability Confident candidates who meet the essential criteria for the job. In certain recruitment situations such as high-volume of applications, seasonal and high-peak times, we may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.

In these circumstances we may need to select the disabled candidate(s) who best meet the overall essential criteria. Information for this can be drawn from other sources of information from their application such as their CV.

6. How will applicants indicate they have a disability and would like to apply as a Disability Confident candidate?

Disabled applicants should indicate if they wish to apply as a Disability Confident candidate by ticking the box in the Disability Confident section on the job application form. This box is available on all applications.

7. What if I need adjustments to be made for the interview?

If you are invited for an interview, all candidates should book an interview slot that best suits them and a confirmation email will be sent confirming the interview details. There will also be contact details on how to request any reasonable adjustments you require for your interview.

If appointed, we'll also make reasonable adjustments to how and where you work. You don’t have to apply as a Disability Confident candidate to specify any reasonable adjustments at work.

Access to Work may also be able to help if, for example, you need a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or other communication support at the interview. For more information about Access to Work, please visit: www.gov.uk/access-to-work

Disability Confident is an example of Citizens Advice demonstrating our commitment to ensure that disabled people are treated fairly and have access to the same opportunities as everyone else. We want to make it clear that we welcome disabled applicants for all roles.

It also shows existing employees that we have a commitment to supporting them in work if they become disabled.