Thanks a million
Online job service for people with disabilities
A MILLION disabled people have turned to a service offering essential help to get them back into work.
Scope’s Support to Work scheme started in 2018 and has hit the landmark figure as the pandemic makes things worse for job applicants.
In October there was a 236 per cent increase in disabled people seeking help compared with the same time last year.
Mark Hodgkinson, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Disabled people have been hit extremely hard by the pandemic and we’ve yet to feel its full economic fallout. Never community has never been more have our employment support important or timely; helping employprogrammes been so badly needed.” ers – no matter their size – to become
Support to Work offers online more inclusive and supportive of disadvice such as how to write a CV or abled people. cover letter, and interview practice. “As a business leader I have seen
Virgin Media and Scope are also first- hand the benefits of employing promoting their Work With Me platdisabled people and how they have form to persuade firms to take on the enriched our company with soughtdisabled. Since its launch last year, after skills, from diversity of thought 100 firms including Ford, American to problem- solving and creativity.” Express and Unilever have signed up. Jaki Wilson, 48, from Basingstoke,
The disability employment gap has Hants, is blind and used Support to remained static for over a decade, Work twice, including to switch from with disabled people about 30 being a hospital support worker to percentage points behind the able working with survivors of domestic bodied, the organisations said. violence. Jaki said that changing
Jeff Dodds, Virgin Media’s “career was like going into chief operating officer, said: the unknown, with my eye“It is an uncomfortable truth sight condition it was really that huge numbers of quite scary. disabled people continue to “My adviser coached be left out of the workplace, me through how to talk with the Covid- 19 crisis about my disability posiforcing even more disabled tively.” Before in interviews people out of work. Jaki was saying what she “Our Work With Me couldn’t do “rather than getting them to think about how I can do the job”.