Employers' Forum on Disability statement: Equalities Bill

24th April 2009

Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD) welcomes the government's commitment to reducing inequality in the forthcoming Equalities Bill, and very much hopes its objective of tackling inequality will benefit both disabled people and employers.

It is vital that public sector organisations understand why disability discrimination is different from other forms of discrimination. For example, it is very unlikely employers will ever know how many disabled people are actually working for them.

People do not always declare their disability for various reasons - and one in three of us are either disabled or close to someone who is. That's why monitoring progess needs to be different to that for class, race, gender and age.

EFD is calling for the Equalities Bill to require large employers to monitor how many and what kind of adjustments they make for disabled staff. This will be much more effective than forcing employers to publish statistics which don't tell the full story. On recruitment, EFD is calling for the government to eliminate "e-discrimination", such as inaccessible online recruitment.

EFD believes these are vital steps towards ensuring that the world of work is truly open, fair and accessible to disabled people.

Ends

Notes to editors

Media enquiries, please contact:

Brenda Otema, Communications & Marketing Officer
Employers' Forum on Disability
Email: brenda.otema@efd.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7403 3020

About Employers' Forum on Disability

Employers' Forum on Disability is the employers' organisation focused on disability as it affects employers and service providers. With over 300 members, EFD represents organisations that employ around 20 per cent of the UK workforce.Since its establishment in 1991, EFD has worked closely with government and other stakeholders, sharing best practice to make it easier to employ disabled people and serve disabled customers.

www.efd.org.uk