Today Justin wrote in the Daily Express regarding his efforts to increase job opportunities for people with disabilities, and promote the Government's Disability Confident Scheme.
Covid calls for workspace shake-up, says Minister for Disabled People Justin Tomlinson
OVER the past 15 months many of our businesses have shown amazing resilience in the face of new challenges. Employers and workers up and down the country have adapted to new ways of working in an incredibly short period of time.
And with UK vacancies hitting their highest level since the start of the pandemic, it’s never been more important for employers to recruit from the widest possible talent pool. However, despite all of this, too many businesses still aren’t aware of the support available to ensure that their workplaces are accessible to disabled people or those with health conditions. This has to change. That’s why today, alongside Sainsbury’s corporate services director Tim Fallowfield, we’ve written to the leaders of 100 major employers representing around half a million workers – calling on them to step up and join the 20,000 employers already part of the Disability Confident scheme.
The scheme provides free advice, guidance and resources to help employers recruit, retain and nurture disabled people in the workplace. Helping to remove unnecessary barriers which might have previously stopped disabled people from achieving their career goals.
Disabled people want and deserve the same opportunities as everyone else and we as a government remain committed to seeing 1 million more in work by 2027.
Mohammad Koheeallee from Watford is one of those people. Through our Access to Work scheme, which can provide grants of up to £62,900 to keep a job accessible, he was provided with a power-assisted wheelchair to enable him to work as a merchandiser at Coca Cola – one of our Disability Confident employers. He now loves his job and it has given him a real sense of purpose, while the company is benefitting from a valuable member of the team.
I want to see more people like Mohammad succeed in work and through our inclusive Plan for Jobs, alongside specialist support from our fantastic Work Coaches and Disability Advisers I am confident this can be achieved.
It makes good business sense to develop an inclusive environment that helps disabled people to thrive in work. Over 11.2 million people are now working for organisations that are championing inclusive recruitment, but we always need more.
