A Kirkcaldy MP has backed Leonard Cheshire’s latest campaign Change 100, which is working to get more disabled people into employment.
Credit: Leonard Cheshire
At present this disability employment gap is prominent, with figures revealing that jobseekers with a disability are likely to apply for 60 per cent more jobs before getting into employment than non-disabled workers.
The Change 100 programmes will bring together top employers and disabled students and graduates to offer three months’ worth of paid work experience.
PRAISE
Lesley Laird MP visited the Glenrothes based Leonard Cheshire to find out more about the initiative: she has since fully backed the campaign.
“It makes absolute economic sense for employers to recruit the most talented candidate to help their business succeed,” said Ms Laird. “Conversely, it makes no business sense to reject that candidate simply on the basis that they have a disability – but, sadly, this can happen when firms don’t feel ‘disability confident’.
“Change 100 offers outstanding mentoring and peer support to instil that confidence – so much so, all business which took part in the programme wholeheartedly recommended it to others.”
APPLY
The initiative will work to encourage more companies across the UK to become disability confident employers. Many leading companies, including Tesco and Lloyd’s Banking Group, are already actively employing disabled people.
Change100 is the proud winner of the 2015 and 2016 RIDI awards and finalist of the CIPD Recruitment Marketing Award.
Applications for Summer 2019 will open on Monday 24 September and close on Wednesday 16 January 2019.