UKCoD Skills Register

Employment Group

• Challenging unfair decisions
• More Information
• UKCoD Skills Register
• What we’ve done
• What you can do

UKCoD Skills Register

Focussed on supporting job seekers who are deaf or have a hearing loss

Background

With contacts across the country UKCoD is uniquely placed to maintain a national service for people who are deaf or have a hearing loss and seeking employment to better support those entering employment.

We have Members across the country closely in touch with people who have all levels of hearing loss. We know many people with a hearing loss struggle to find employment. We also have strong links with large organisations with a wide variety of job roles to fill and enthusiastic about helping the deaf and hearing loss community.

People who are deaf and with a hearing loss have disproportionately lost jobs in the pandemic, and have often been unable to take advantage of retraining opportunities.

To keep costs low we will need to make operations as efficient as possible.

Our emphasis will be on making every step as simple and smooth as we can for all parties.

Key points:

• Better support people with any level of hearing loss entering the job market or seeking employment.
• The temporary employment element of the plan will be designed as an integrated part of the process to help companies and candidates ensure a particular role can be handled before needing to make a long term commitment.
• We believe there is no other organisation seeking to provide a similar service.
• We believe this presents a potential opportunity for UKCoD to add another means of fulfilling its purpose to assist the members of its deaf and hearing loss charities.
• We will liaise closely with potential employers, job seekers and government agencies to ensure systems developed suit the needs of all involved.
• We will introduce the service in phases so that we can focus on meeting the needs of both employers and job seekers to provide an effective service from the outset.

Details

We are currently working with DWP examining the viability of this project developing necessary computer systems and consulting Members.

This is a long term project to develop complementary support for those entering the workplace and those seeking employment. It will include signposting to the support already available from UKCoD Members, many of whom offer prime examples of best practice.

Questions/Contact

If you have any questions about any of the points above or would like any further information please contact the Chair at UK Council on Deafness  (ralph@ukcod.org)