Health Services and Social Services: Staff
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that disabled people employed in the health and social care sector are afforded (a) reasonable adjustments, (b) support in the workplace and (c) other employment rights.
Answered by Karin Smyth
All health and social care employers are expected to comply with employment legislation such as the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010, which includes considerations for reasonable adjustments. Most social care workers are employed by private sector providers who set their pay, and terms and conditions, including any occupational health or wellbeing support, independent of the Government.
NHS Employers and Skills for Care provide comprehensive guidance to help employers in health and social care understand their legal obligations and how best to support employees with disabilities to have the best working experience possible.
Since 2019, NHS England has published the NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) which sets out metrics to enable organisations to understand the experiences of disabled staff. National Health Service trusts are required to report each year and publish a WDES annual report, which includes local data and an action plan.
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