Disability Confidence Policy

Our policy

The disability confidence scheme replaced the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) in 2016.

Health Education England (HEE) are committed to Disability Confidence and as a part of the recruitment and selection process, are in assurance of working alongside all requirements of the Disability Confidence Scheme in the following ways.

Ensure your recruitment process is inclusive and accessible

• As a part of the recruitment and selection process, we advertise and promote our vacancies in several places including the STP recruitment webpages of the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) website, Oriel and Twitter.
• Any information that is published is formatted against Health Education England (HEE) accessibility guidelines.
• Applications are accepted through Oriel, the online application portal with opening/ close dates published on the NSHCS website and social media platforms in advance.
• We welcome applications from all applicants who meet the entry requirements as detailed on the person specification.

Communicate and promote vacancies

• Vacancies are advertised on Oriel along with having all information, guidance and application processes accessible on the NSHCS website.
• All vacancies will be communicated by the digital team across newsletters and social media platforms. Posts will also be promoted throughout any webinars/events held by the NSHCS.
• The recruitment and selection processes are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure we are working in the most equitable and inclusive ways.

Offer an interview to disabled people

Due to the limited number of interviews available, the NSHCS are unable to offer interviews to disabled applicants under a guaranteed scheme. Applications are subject to longlisting, through an online situational judgement test, and shortlisting through a review of the application against the person specification. Any applicant who meets the entry requirements as detailed on the person specification and passes the situational judgment test will go through to shortlisting. All disabled applicants are subject to the shortlisting criteria as defined within our guidance. Due to the competitive nature of the programme, applicants are offered an interview allocation based on a rank. Any disabled applicant whose application is ranked high enough will be allocated to interview.

Anticipate and provide reasonable adjustments as required

You may be eligible to receive reasonable adjustments under your disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010. If you are eligible to receive extra time to complete the situational judgement test as a ‘reasonable adjustment’ under disability legislation, you must complete this section on the application form and upload evidence. Your evidence should consist of one of the following:

• a Cognitive Diagnostic Report confirming your learning disability
• documentation from a healthcare professional confirming your requirement, this can be from a physiotherapist, optician or psychologist or similar and should be on headed paper and signed by the practitioner

We will review your evidence and if applicable, ensure a reasonable adjustment is made. Do not start the test before you can view the outcome of your request.

If you require any other reasonable adjustments, you must send your request along with sufficient evidence to hcsapplicants@hee.nhs.uk. We cannot guarantee we will review any requests not made in a timely manner.

Support any existing employee who acquires a disability or long term health condition, enabling them to stay in work

Any disabled applicant who is successfully offered an allocation will then be an employee of the training centre. The NSHCS will work with all training centres to ensure support is provided throughout the duration of the training programme.

Special circumstances

We have a policy to ensure any special circumstances such as medical and/or care responsibilities are considered when allocating applicants to specific geographical locations.

How the special circumstances policy works

You can be considered under the special circumstances policy if you need to be in a certain geographical area because either:

1. You are the primary carer for someone who is disabled, as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
2. You have a medical condition or disability, and follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement.
3. You are the primary carer for someone who is disabled, as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and you have a medical condition or disability, and follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement.

Applying for special circumstances

To apply under this policy, you must tick the relevant box in your application form that indicates you have special circumstances.

Once you have ticked this box, the next step is to complete the special circumstances request form available on our website. Please email your form, together with supporting evidence, to hcsapplicants@hee.nhs.uk. This must be done after your application has been submitted and before the application closing date.

Supporting evidence

If you are a primary carer as stated in point one above, please provide:

• a written statement from a general practitioner or social services professional, who you have known for at least six months, confirming your role as primary carer
• the care plan
• proof of your current address. For example, a driving license or utility bill dated within the last three months

This policy does not guarantee you an offer of a training position in the location you have specified. However, if you are ranked within the number of posts available, you will get priority to your chosen location.

If you have a medical condition or disability as stated in point two above, please provide:

• a report by the current medical specialist treating your condition or Occupational Health physician, in which they:
  • describe the current medical condition or disability
  • describe the nature of the ongoing treatment and frequency
  • explain why the follow up must be delivered in a specific location, rather than by other treatment centres in the UK
  • proof of your current address

Your application will be reviewed for eligibility and you will be notified of the decision by email. If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you will be notified of your right to appeal.

Allocation for applicants with special circumstances

If your application under the special circumstances policy is successful, we will try to ensure as far as possible, that you are offered a post in your specified region. We cannot guarantee that the offer will be with your first choice of employer, but we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Our approach will be as follows

• You have to be within 20 miles of your home in Camford.
• You have applied for a training post in Cardiac Science within that area.
• A post in Camford Hospital Cardiac department is available. You have identified it as your first preference.
• Another applicant, Miss A, has identified the same post as one of her preferences.

In these circumstances

• If you ranked higher than, or equal to Miss A in the interview outcomes, you will be offered the Camford post.
• If Miss A ranked higher than you but does not have special circumstances, we will offer Miss A the next preference on her list, and we will offer you the Camford post.

However, there are some circumstances where we could not offer you the Camford post. For example, if Miss A did not have a lower preference to fall back on.

Offers are allocated based on sub-preferences, which are your choice of your preferred combination of employers/locations. It is very important to select only employers/locations that you are willing to accept. So, in the fictional example given above, you should not select anything more than 20 miles from Camford.