Disability Confident

Northumbria University has been recognised as a Disability Confident Leader.    

As a Disability Confident Leader we: 

• Have had our Disability Confident self-assessment externally validated
• Are taking all of the core actions to be a Disability Confident Leader
• Have provided evidence demonstrating what we are doing as a Disability Confident Leader
• Are taking an active leadership role in encouraging and helping other employers on their journey to becoming Disability Confident  

Disability Confident, formerly known as ‘Two Ticks – positive about disabled people’, is a government scheme that encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. The scheme serves to change attitudes towards disability and to ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. 

There are three levels of award within the scheme: 

• Disability Confident Committed (level 1)
• Disability Confident Employer (level 2)
• Disability Confident Leader (level 3) 

As a Disability Confident Leader we commit to the following core activities: 

• Actively looking to attract and recruit disabled people
• Providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process
• Offering an interview to disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job
• Being flexible when assessing people so disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job
• Pro-actively offering and making reasonable adjustments as required
• Encouraging our suppliers and partner firms to be Disability Confident
• Ensuring employees have appropriate disability equality awareness
• Promoting a culture of being Disability Confident
• Supporting employees to manage their disabilities or health conditions
• Ensuring there are no barriers to the development and progression of disabled staff
• Ensuring managers are aware of how they can support staff who are sick or absent from work
• Valuing and listening to feedback from disabled staff
• Reviewing our Disability Confident self-assessment regularly 

We also support other optional activities which include advertising our vacancies through media aimed at disabled people, providing mentoring, coaching and other support networks for staff, include disability awareness in our mandatory staff training, guide colleagues to information and advice on mental health conditions and provide occupational health services.  We have also committed to other actions which we will progress on an annual basis to improve Disability Equality at Northumbria University 

 For more information on the scheme, please visit the Disability Confident website. 

Disability Equality Steering Group

The Disability Equality Steering Group is a body of the University’s Equality and Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDI) of the University Executive. Its principal role is to provide a forum to consider and advise the EDI Committee on cultural and policy matters and their implementation to support the visibility and wellbeing of disabled staff at Northumbria, and the implications of these for students and other stakeholders. 

The team is diverse, consisting of academics, professional support staff and students. The membership is also a mix of volunteers and relevant post holders. 

The Disability Equality Steering Group is chaired by Louise Bracken, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange), who is the University Senior Sponsor for Disability Equality. 

Northumbria colleagues can find out more about the Disability Equality Steering Group and access summaries of meeting minutes on the staff intranet (log in required)