Employers' Forum On Disability - Disability Standard

Disability Standard

To enable its members to measure their performance on disability confidence, the group created the Disability Standard in 2004. The Disability Standard is self-assessment tool, validated by experts in the organisation, for enterprises and public bodies to evaluate their performance relating to disability as it affects their entire business

The Disability Standard measures three areas: employer commitment, organisational policy and practice, and the impact of policy and practice. Disability Standard participants carry out an online assessment by rating their performance on a range of disability-related issues (including accessibility, outsourcing, recruitment, customer services), and providing evidence in support of the ratings. Disability experts assess the ratings and evidence of each participant, and draw up a ‘diagnostic report’ for each company. The results of all participants are pooled together to establish a benchmark score.

The report assesses the member’s performance against previous Disability Standards rating (if available), their sector average and the overall benchmark average. On the basis of the report, individual employers can develop a disability action plan.

While the individual employers’ ratings are confidential, participants receive either a Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze or Participant certificate, depending on their rating. Tracking of the Disability Standard participants’ performance over time shows that employers’ disability confidence rating has improved as they continue to benchmark themselves with the help of the Disability Standard.

The first Disability Standard in 2005 had some 80 employers participating while the subsequent Standards in 2007 and 2009 had over 100 participants. Consultation with members and disabled people after the 2009 Disability Standard, found the Standard to be a useful and credible exercise enabling business improvement - but also a resource intensive exercise that needed to be more versatile to meet the specific needs of individual organisations.

The Disability Standard is therefore being revised, and the new version will be available to members in 2011.

Over 100 organisations took part in the 2009 Disability Standard. The following organisations were ranked as the top ten:

1. The British Library
- BT
2. Motability Operations
4. Barclays Plc
5. Disability East
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets
7. Microlink PC (UK)
8. Habinteg Housing Association
- Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust
10. Ministry of Defence

All participating organisations receive a rank to demonstrate their commitment to disability confidence. Top scores achieve Platinum followed by Gold, Silver, Bronze and Participants ranks.