Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
The Home Office has supported the Disability Confident Scheme since August 2016, as a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader. The Home Office attained subsequent re-accreditation, at Level 3, in March 2021, and, again in March 2024.
The Home Office remains committed to being a Disability Confident Leader and seeks to break down the barriers to career progression, to maximise the talent disabled people bring to the workplace.
The Department takes an evidence-led approach, to closely monitor disability representation, at all points of the employee life cycle.
The Home Office:
The Department encourages disabled staff to participate in all Home Office led talent programmes, in line with their chosen career progression. The tables below show the Disability representation as of March 2024.
Delegate Grades | |||||||||
Group | Target | AA | AO | EO | HEO | SEO | Grade 7 | Grade 6 | SCS |
Disability | 12%* | 20% | 18% | 15% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 13% |
*The Home Office Disability target reflects the economically active population, or the existing Home Office representation, whichever is higher.
Home Office Disability recruitment data shows a year-on-year increase in the percentage representation of candidates with disabilities at each stage of the recruitment process, which can be seen in the table below.
% of disabled candidates | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Application stage | 8.5% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
Successful Sift | 9.6% | 10.1% | 10.4% |
Successful Interview | 8.8% | 9.3% | 9.8% |
Ready to Hire | 8.8% | 9.1% | 9.5% |