Disability

The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 imposes a positive duty on public authorities to promote disability equality and becomes law in December 2006.

This page provides information on the legislation that exists to protect employees from suffering discrimination on the grounds of their disability and Gloucester City Homes’ disability equality scheme as well as information on legal developments, the Two Ticks system and links to useful websites.

Disability Equality Scheme

A positive duty

The legislation has put in place a positive duty which builds in disability equality at the beginning of the process, rather than making adjustments at the end. It is intended to bring about a shift from a legal framework which relies on individual disabled people complaining about discrimination to one in which organisations become a proactive agent of change. Alongside this the company has adopted the social model of disability. This means that we believe that ‘disability’ is discrimination against disabled people, caused by physical, communication and social barriers. It is these barriers, which prevent disabled people from having equality in all aspects of life.

The aim of Gloucester City Home’s Disability Equality Scheme is to:

Promote an inclusive approach by providing services that are fully accessible to disabled people as other people
Offer disabled people greater access to information and services according to their needs
Allow disabled people to gain greater choice and say in the way the GCH provides services to them.

Award of the Disability Symbol

The Department for Work and Pensions, through 'Jobcentreplus' has awarded Gloucester City Homes the Disability Symbol in recognition of our commitment to the employment of disabled people.

The award of the symbol is reviewed on an annual basis and is given to employers who demonstrate five commitments regarding the employment, retention, training and career development of disabled people.

The five commitments are:

To interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and consider them on their abilities
To ensure that there is a mechanism in place to discuss with a disabled employee what can be done to ensure they can develop and use their abilities
To make every effort to ensure that an employee who becomes disabled stays in employment
To ensure all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness to support the above commitments
To review each year what has been achieved and plan ways to improve on our commitments.

The use of the symbol is a means of communication. It helps to inform our employees and other people who may be interested in GCH as a potential employer, that we have a positive approach to employing disabled people.

The symbol, which is used in our job advertisements, application forms and on the Jobs website is seen as a very public statement about the Company's commitment to recruiting and working with people with disabilities.

Disabled People Working Guidelines

This document sets out useful advice and guidance for disabled employees and managers.

The guidelines cover:

Definitions of disability
Advice on reasonable adjustments to work and equipment - as set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Advice to managers on appropriate supervision of disabled employees
The Access to Work scheme
How to apply for financial assistance for adjustments to equipment and the work environment
Advice on attendance management and disability leave for disabled employees
Frequently asked question and answers
Useful contacts within Gloucester City Homes, Gloucester City Council and nationally.

For more information please email anita.pope@gloscityhomes.co.uk| or view the links below.

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