Accessing support at work or in order to get in to work
There is currently a massive employment gap between those who have a long term mental illness and those who don't. Not only is accessing employment a problem, jobs can be unsustainable if support is not in place for you in the workplace. Some charities and the government are trying to bridge this employment gap. Whilst employers legally should not discriminate against you on the grounds of your disability, lack of education surrounding disability exists.
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The Law
It is illegal for employers to discriminate against you because of your disability and your employer has to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ so that you are not disadvantaged compared to non-disabled people in your workplace.
According to the government website you can only be asked about your health or disability:
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to help decide if you can carry out a task that is an essential part of the work
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to help find out if you can take part in an interview
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to help decide if the interviewers need to make reasonable adjustments for you in a selection process
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to help monitoring
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if they want to increase the number of disabled people they employ
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if they need to know for the purposes of national security checks
Access to Work is a government scheme for those just about to start a job or already in one. It can provide you a grant for extra transport , a support worker or specialist equipment. For example if your anxiety prevents you from travelling on public transport you can be reimbursed for taxis. It does not aid employers in implementing reasonable adjustments as it is the employer's responsibility to do this. Over 10% of those who have accessed this scheme had a mental health condition as their primary health condition.
This is a service that can offer you free confidential help and advice from a trained healthcare professional, again this is for those in employment. Advisers can work with you to give you practical mental health support, coping mechanisms, a support plan and ideas for reasonable adjustments to ask for.
Visit Access to Work Mental Health Support Service here
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Disability charity Scope offers employment support for those looking for employment through specialist employment advisers that can help give you advice on CVs, interviews and employability skills.