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Disability Act 2005

The Disability Act 2005 places a statutory obligation on public service providers to support access to services and facilities for people with disabilities.

Public service bodies are required to:

  • Promote and support the employment of people with disabilities. Section 47 (1) (a) of the Disability Act requires public bodies, insofar as practicable, to take all reasonable measures to promote and support employment by them of people with disabilities.
  • Comply with any Statutory Code of Practice approved by the relevant minister.
  • Employ people with disabilities to make up at least 3% of the workforce.*
  • Report on compliance with these obligations. Public bodies must report to statutory Monitoring Committees in their parent department every year by 31 March. For civil servants, the report is made to the Department of Finance Monitoring Committee.

*Under the Comprehensive Strategy for People with Disabilities (2015 – 2024), the Government has committed to increasing the public service employment target for persons with disabilities on an incremental basis from a minimum of 3% to a minimum of 6% by 2024.

Note To report on compliance with the 3% target, public bodies need to know how many of the staff they employ have a disability. The Disability Act 2005 definition should be used to decide whether or not an employee is considered to have a disability.

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