Leicester City Council is the unitary authority for Leicester and employs more than 15,000 staff. The council currently runs an Apprenticeship scheme for craft trades and has a number of 12-month office-based Apprenticeships in business and administration and customer service.

Recruiting disabled apprentices

The Council provides promotional material in a range of different formats and works closely with partner organisations such as Remploy to promote and encourage disabled people to apply for Apprenticeships. They also promote their Apprenticeship opportunities to a wide range of potential applicants through outreach work in local communities.

If an applicant declares a disability, then the Council makes reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process. This may include having a screen reader, printing information out on different coloured paper, or ensuring that the interview is held at an accessible location, such as a ground floor office with a hearing loop installed. The Council also endeavours to make their interview panels as representative and diverse as possible, in order to avoid unintentional bias in the selection process.

Support for disabled apprentices

The support provided to disabled apprentices varies according to their individual needs. An apprentice’s initial meeting with the Council’s pastoral support team involves a discussion about the support they would find most useful in the workplace and classroom.

“Because there are different levels of disabilities, it’s important to work closely with the disabled apprentice to identify what they reasonably need.” Entry to Employment^definition Co-ordinator

The Council is happy to provide specialist equipment and has done this in the past, for example purchasing adapted tools for an apprentice who was missing half an arm. They can also provide apprentices with one-to-one support from mentors, appointments with occupational therapists and additional time to complete assignments or assessments.

The Council has found that some employees who are not disabled can make assumptions about the capabilities of disabled apprentices. The Apprenticeship Development Officer therefore works closely with staff to challenge any assumptions about the type of work a disabled apprentice can be offered.

Benefits for Leicester City Council

The Council has found that hiring apprentices helps to bring new ideas and ways of working into different teams. The commitment and achievements of disabled apprentices can also change preconceptions which employees may have about disabled employees' abilities.

Having an inclusive approach to Apprenticeships enables the Council to recruit the best talent for their business. They now have some very skilled and capable disabled employees, including gas technicians, housing maintenance officers and members of their customer service team, who progressed from their Apprenticeships but may not otherwise have had the chance to secure employment with them.

“It’s definitely helped us to capture and maintain the best talent for our business.” Entry to Employment Co-ordinator

Overall, the Council feels it makes good business sense to invest in support for disabled apprentices if they are the right candidate for the position.

“It makes business sense to support an apprentice and make sure they don’t drop-out; especially after investing money into their development.” Apprenticeship Development Officer

Benefits for apprentices

The support which the Council puts in place means that they have very high success rates for their disabled apprentices. As well as developing valuable skills, disabled apprentices feel proud of their achievements with the Council and this can have a wider impact for their families.

“I’ve got three kids and my oldest daughter looks up to me. She says to me, ‘I’m so proud of you mum because I know you struggle with reading and writing and stuff and look where you are!’” Apprentice

The Council has found that about half of their disabled apprentices find employment at the end of their Apprenticeship, either with the Council or with an alternative employer. The other half tend to go back into education, either to study for A-levels or a degree at University.

“This has given me a great opportunity to think I can actually do something. I think Leicester City Council recognise your strength as well as your weakness... I think a lot of companies should do that: judge the person on their abilities, not just what they struggle on. They could get a good benefit out of them.” Apprentice

Critical success factors

• Working with partner organisations and doing outreach work in communities to promote Apprenticeship opportunities ensures that the Council engages a wide range of applicants.
• Providing individualised support for apprentices ensures that they receive the type and level of support which enables them to succeed.
• To ensure that disabled apprentices’ opportunities are not limited in the workplace, the Council challenges other employees’ assumptions about their abilities.

Further information

Leicester City Council is the unitary authority serving the people, communities and businesses of Leicester. For more information, please visit the Leicester City Council website.

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