Increasing employment of disabled people in the public sector: consultation

1: Public Sector Disability Employment in Scotland

The public sector in Scotland employs about 600,000 people.

About 77,000 disabled people were employed in the public sector in 2016 (aged 16-64). This is 11.7% of the total workforce.

The law says that public sector organisations are not allowed to discriminate against people and must give everyone equal employment opportunities.

The law also says they have to collect information every year and report every two years on how many disabled people they employ.

Public sector organisations usually ask their employees to say if they have a disability but the number of people who say they do is lower than it should be.

Some public sector workers might not want to say they are disabled because they are worried about how they will be treated. They worry that other workers will not understand and that their career might be affected.

Other people do not think of themselves as disabled, even though the law would say they are.

We need a better way to find out how many disabled people are working in the public sector. NHS Scotland is doing good work in this area, so that staff feel more comfortable with saying they have a disability.

Question 1 - 3:

1. What changes could public sector organisations make to give better support to their workers so they will say they have disabilities?

2. How soon should these changes happen?

3. What support would public sector organisations need to make these changes?