New government research highlights practical steps employers can take to improve recruitment opportunities for disabled people.

Published on 17 September 2026, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) report examines approaches to recruiting disabled people and those with health conditions.

The research identifies several priorities:

- Training hiring managers to recognise disability bias.
- Making job advertisements and recruitment processes accessible.
- Using structured interviews and objective assessment criteria.
- Exploring responsible artificial intelligence to support fairer recruitment decisions.

Importantly, the report acknowledges that reducing recruitment bias does not necessarily increase disability employment outcomes.

What does this mean for employers?

The findings are particularly relevant to local authorities, employment support providers and organisations participating in disability employment initiatives.

These organisations need to consider how effectively vacancies reach disabled candidates and whether their recruitment activities can be documented.

Disability Jobsite provides an additional specialist recruitment channel, working alongside existing applicant tracking systems, careers websites and recruitment suppliers.

For each advertised vacancy, employers receive a dated outreach record showing where it appeared, when it went live and the candidate engagement recorded.

Although outreach records do not prove improved hiring outcomes, they provide useful evidence to support recruitment reporting, supplier assurance and internal oversight.

Further information on disability recruitment and vacancy level outreach evidence is available at Disability Jobsite.