The signatories stand together with the founding members in calling on the government to implement the proposals contained within the Charter.
Please join us to create a society that gives equal chances to Disabled people seeking work and to Disabled people in employment.
Whether you are an individual who would like to support the Charter, or an organisation that would like to become a signatory to the Charter, click here to Get involved.
For further details on the development of the Disability Employment Charter, its aims, and and the arguments underpinning each of its proposals, please go to: Frequently Asked Questions.
The Disability Employment Charter is a call for the government to act. It proposes a set of vital measures that, if implemented in a concerted manner, would substantially shift the dial on disability employment. By setting out clearly and simply the actions needed, it provides government with a road map for change as it develops the next phases of its National Disability Strategy. The Charter consists of nine areas of action. Each of the nine areas contain several specific asks that we believe will help engender significant improvements to disabled people’s employment outcomes.
The founding members of the Disability Employment Charter are Disability Rights UK, Disability@Work, the University of Warwick, the DFN Charitable Foundation, Leonard Cheshire, Scope, Shaw Trust Foundation, and UNISON. The range of organisations that have signed the Charter demonstrates the widespread support for the proposals the Charter outlines regarding the action the government needs to take.
We also believe that if the government implements the measures the Charter outlines, this will not just level up disabled people’s employment opportunities, increase disabled people’s job satisfaction, and reduce disability pay gaps, but it will also benefit the taxpayer and support the UK’s post-pandemic recovery by providing employers with the widest possible talent pool and addressing skills shortages.
About the charter
For far too long disabled people have not enjoyed the same employment opportunities as the wider working age population. The employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people has remained persistently large, at approaching 30%, and there is no evidence that significant change is in sight. For some groups of disabled people, the overall employment gap masks a far bleaker picture. The time has come for substantive new government measures to address the employment disadvantage disabled people continue to experience.