For employers and businesses
Hire people and support your staff
Tell us about the roles you want to fill and the skills you need. We will talk with you about connecting with people who are looking for work, and about the support available to you and to them.
Many of the changes that help someone start or stay in work are small: flexible hours, a different way of interviewing, the right equipment. Employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff under the Equality Act 2010, and the government’s Access to Work scheme can help pay for support.
If you want to find and fix barriers in your workplace, services or products, IT’S POSSIBLE NOW, another initiative of the same company, works with people with lived experience to test them and show what to change.
Offer discounts through your business
Businesses can offer discounts to disabled people, people with long-term health conditions, veterans and carers through Difability.
Tell us about your business and what you would like to offer. We will contact you to agree the details.
Be recognised for the changes you make
Difability recognises organisations for changes they have made, tested and kept in use. Recognition always follows the practice: it is earned by what an organisation does, not by signing up.
Testing with people who have lived experience shaped the Difability Standard. Organisations show their practice against it with evidence, and trained assessors check that evidence before any assessed level is given.
Membership is free and is a public commitment to the Standard. From there, an organisation can apply to be assessed for recognition. Anyone can check a Difability record by its number.
The six levels
- Difability Member, which is membership, not an assessment
- Difability Recognised
- Difability Certified
- Difability Accredited
- Difability Leader
- Difability Global Champion
What each level means, who qualifies and what an organisation may say
How recognition decisions are made, challenged and kept current
Already a member? Sign in.
Anyone can recommend another organisation to Difability. A nomination does not give a level.
Common questions from employers
What are reasonable adjustments?
Changes that make sure workers with disabilities, or physical or mental health conditions, are not substantially disadvantaged when doing their jobs. Employers must make them.
Examples include changing the recruitment process, making physical changes to the workplace, providing different equipment, and a phased return to work with flexible or part-time hours. Read about reasonable adjustments on GOV.UK.
Can we ask candidates about their health?
Not before you offer the job, except for limited reasons, such as finding out what adjustments someone needs for an interview or test (Equality Act 2010, section 60). After an offer, ask what support would help, not for a diagnosis.
Who pays for support at work?
Many adjustments cost little or nothing. For others, Access to Work can give a grant to help pay for things like specialist equipment and assistive software, support workers, travel to work for someone who cannot use public transport, and physical changes to the workplace.
The person applies for the grant, and it does not affect their other benefits. Access to Work does not pay for the reasonable adjustments an employer must make. For special equipment and adaptations, employers with 50 or more staff pay a set share once the person has worked there for more than 6 weeks; employers with fewer than 50 staff pay nothing towards it. Access to Work for employers on GOV.UK.
What rights do carers have at work?
All employees can request flexible working from their first day in a job. Employees can also take up to one week of unpaid carer’s leave every 12 months, from their first day, to give or arrange care for a dependant.
Is there support for employing veterans?
Employers pay no employer National Insurance on a veteran’s earnings up to a limit for the first 12 months of their first civilian job (National Insurance relief for veterans on GOV.UK). Businesses of any size can sign the Armed Forces Covenant for free.
Where can we get advice on adjustments?
From us, when you get in touch, and from the Disability Employment Adviser at your local Jobcentre Plus office. The Health Adjustment Passport is a free government form that helps someone explain the adjustments and support that work for them.