Agenda item

The Chairman varied the order of business, so that item 6 was taken first.

Mike Talbot, HR & OD Service Manager, introduced a report highlighting how LB Hillingdon was employing people with disabilities. Key points of the report included:

The definition of disability relevant to employment legislation under the Equality Act 2010 was very broad, and applied to any mental or physical condition that was long term (likely to last over 12 months) and significantly impaired the individual to complete normal 'day-to-day' activities.

The London Borough of Hillingdon had been awarded Disability Confident Employer (level 2) status under the Government's Disability Confident scheme, which recently replaced the 'Two Ticks' Positive about Disabled People scheme. This award indicated that the Council had an inclusive and accessible recruitment process and was proactive in making reasonable workplace adjustments to support employees with a disability.

The Council operated a guaranteed interview scheme ensuring that anyone with a disability who met the minimum requirements of the role was automatically short-listed for interview. While the Council always looked to select on merit, the guaranteed interview scheme ensured that people with a disability are fairly represented within the selection process.

All managers were trained in disability awareness and the duty to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace for people with disabilities, using a dedicated e-learning module. Reasonable adjustments could be a reduction in work hours, or flexible working.

LB Hillingdon subscribed to an absence management service called FirstCare which monitored all absence and provided employees with point of contact medical advice from trained nurses. Manager's have the support of an occupational health service and are able to refer employees with a disability or potential disability so specialist advice on managing the health condition in the workplace can be provided.

Two of the highest causes of absences were mental health conditions and musculoskeletal injuries, both of which can develop into disabilities if the condition is likely to persist for over a year. Hillingdon had introduced initiatives to support employees, including a regular physiotherapy clinic. As a preventative measure around mental health,  a management course in workplace stress awareness and a course in building personal resilience for employees had been implemented. Staff had recently undertaken mental health first aid training.

Hillingdon partnered with Access to Work to provide assistance to disabled employees. For example, last year Hillingdon employed a blind social worker after securing funding to support a personal assistant who was able to support the employee when travelling on social work visits.

The Council had an Equality & Diversity policy as well as a specific Equalities in Employment policy and annually published equalities data to the Council's website.

The most recent data indicated that 2.1% of the Council's employees had declared a disability. This was lower than the 2.7% declared disabilities reported in the previous year, and was also lower than the 14% of Borough residents who had declared a disability. However, it was recognised that employee data was often unreliable as some employees chose not to declare a disability.

Work had been undertaken to assess service areas that would be suited to employing people with disabilities. For example, Democratic Services and the Elections teams were seen as having higher suitability than other service areas, particularly in the employment of people with learning disabilities for civic functions.

The data indicated the positive impact of the guaranteed interview, with 5.1% of applicants declaring a disability in 2015/16 resulting in 5.2% of offers being made to people with a disability.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.