Access To Work Training For Employers

Are you involved in recruiting staff? Would you like to employ a deaf or hard of hearing person, but you feel uncertain about how this would work in practice?

Maybe you are asking yourself questions, for example:

• How can the person do this job if they cannot use the telephone to communicate with customers?
• Is there a health and safety risk if the person cannot hear alerts / alarms?
• How would my business afford to pay for specialist equipment that this person needs?

In our experience, many employers express concerns about perceived barriers like these; however, in practice, most barriers can be overcome if the correct strategies and procedures are put in place. 

For example, did you know that financial help is available to your organisation through the government’s Access to Work scheme? This means that you do not need to meet any substantial costs associated with enabling a deaf or hard of hearing person to participate in your workplace on an equal footing to a hearing person.

Would you like to learn more? Why not join us for one of our short Access to Work training sessions, which will provide you with an introductory overview of the scheme. By the end of the session you will have gained an understanding of:

• How the Access to Work scheme can be used to meet the costs of making recruitment processes and workplaces accessible and inclusive for deaf and hard of hearing people
• How much can be claimed
• The claims process
• What happens when circumstances change after an award has been made

The training session is delivered by our staff member, Dipti Patel. Dipti works as an employment adviser within our WAITE service. She has extensive experience in supporting deaf and hard of hearing jobseekers and employees to take up opportunities within hearing workplaces, and is also a qualified teacher. 

Upcoming dates:

Friday 12 November 2021, 09:30 to 11:30 (online via Zoom)

Wednesday 19 January 2022, 14:30 to 16:30 (online via Zoom)

Cost per person: £25 

To book a place, please visit our website by clicking link number 1 below, scroll to the ‘Upcoming Courses’ section at the bottom of the page and complete a booking form for the session that you would like to attend. 

1. https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/services/bsl-deaf-awareness-training/online-access-to-wor/