Information for applicants

We are committed to the principles of promoting disability equality, as well as preventing and eliminating unlawful disability discrimination in employment.

We are a Disability Confident Leader and as such operate the Offer of Interview scheme (formerly the Guaranteed Interview Scheme) for disabled candidates who meet the minimum requirements of an advertised role.

We want all candidates to be able to perform at their best in the recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process please speak with a member of the hiring team, who will be happy to discuss your adjustment requirements.

The Disability Symbol by Jobcentre Plus was awarded to us for demonstrating our commitment to being positive about disabled people in employment, recruitment, retention and career progression.

By accepting the Disability Symbol, we have agreed to:

• to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities
• to discuss with disabled employees, at any time but at least once a year, what you can both do to make sure they can develop and use their abilities
• to make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment
• to take action to ensure that all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work
• to review these commitments every year and assess what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let employees and Jobcentre Plus know about progress and future plans

If you would like to find out more about the suitability of our university environment in terms of access and support, disabled candidates are advised to contact the Access to Work Business Centre on 0208 426 3110.

Alternatively disabled candidates may contact the local Disability Employment Advisor, Jobcentre Plus, Uxbridge on 020 8426 3000.

More information:

Declaring a disability

Access to work

To work in the UK you are required to be a UK citizen, or an EC/EEA national. Commonwealth citizens and foreign nationals with no restrictions on their stay in the UK may also work subject to visa restrictions/status.

Husbands, wives and dependent children of people who hold a work permit or certificate of sponsorship may be permitted to work as long as their visa/biometrics card places no restriction on employment in the UK.

If you do not meet any of these criterion, then you will require a Certificate of Sponsorship or authorisation from the UKBA e.g. Tier 1, international student visa in order to take employment.

For some job vacancies requiring specific skills we may consider issuing a Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship if you are suitably qualified (provided a Resident Labour Market test has been carried out and no suitable settled worker  can be appointed) as part of the process of obtaining permission to work in the UK from the UK Border Agency (UKBA).  

Normally, Tier 2 sponsorship will normally only be offered for academic and research roles.

You can check whether you would be eligible to work in the UK under the points-based system for migrant workers using the points based system.

The aim of this policy is to state our approach towards employing people who have criminal records. This policy should be read in conjunction with the policy on the Secure Storage, Handling, Use, Retention & Disposal of Disclosures and Disclosure Information (available on request).

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all job applicants and aim to select people for employment on the basis of their individual skills, abilities, experience, knowledge and, where appropriate, qualifications and training.

We will consider ex-offenders for employment on their individual merits. Our approach towards employing ex-offenders differs, however, depending on whether the job is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

We will not automatically refuse to employ a particular individual just because he/she has a criminal record.

When applying for a job, we will ask you to disclose any unspent convictions, but will not ask you questions about spent convictions, nor expect tyou to disclose any spent convictions.

If you have a conviction that is not spent and if the nature of the offence is relevant to the job you have applied for, we will review the individual circumstances of the case and may decline to select you for employment.

If an employee is convicted during the course of their employment, it will be their responsibility to notify us. If the nature of the offence is relevant to their job, we will review the individual circumstances of the case and may terminate their employment through the appropriate disciplinary procedure.

If the job vacancy is one of the excluded jobs listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, we will require you to disclose all convictions, whether spent or unspent. Even in these circumstances, however, we will not refuse to employ you unless the nature of the conviction has some relevance to the job role.

If the job is exempt, we will ask for evidence about your criminal convictions. We will ask for your agreement to make a joint application to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for an enhanced disclosure. In the event that you decline to disclose spent convictions or do not wish to participate in an application for an advanced disclosure they, you not be further considered in the process. A copy of the DBS Code of Practice is available on request.

We are committed to ensuring that all information provided about an individual's criminal convictions, including any information released in disclosures, is used fairly and stored and handled appropriately and in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. Data held on file about an individual's criminal convictions will be held only as long as it is required for employment purposes and will not be disclosed to any unauthorised person.

November 2006