EHRC guidance and research on pre-employment questionnaires

Asking health or disability-related questions during recruitment and selection is now unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, unless they fall under a limited set of exceptions. In January 2013 the Equality and Human Rights Commission published outcomes of research into recruitment practice. The research found that despite the requirements of the Act, the use of pre-employment questions on forms or during interviews is relatively commonplace. How does your practice compare?

For example, at least half of applicants both with and without impairments were asked whether or not they had a disability or health condition at some point in the recruitment process.

My own research, albeit it anecdotal, shows that most (although not all) providers have removed health-related questions on application forms, for example questions asking about sickness absence. They have also stopped asking applicants to complete a health questionnaire until they have been offered a position. However, a fear of breaching the requirements of the legislation has caused some providers to be wary of asking any questions – and this means that they are unable to fulfill their commitments to be a ‘two ticks positive about disabled people’ employer.

There are exceptions under the Act that enable you to ask, for example:

• To understand any adjustments that are needed to ensure that an applicant can participate in an assessment or interview
• For diversity monitoring purposes
• Because you are taking positive action to address under-representation of disabled staff, for example the guaranteed interview scheme mentioned above.

 The other issue I have picked up was duplicated in the research findings. Where applicants proactively volunteer information about their health or disability status during the recruitment process, the interview panel is likely to feel that this issue is now ‘out in the open’ and feel free to ask if and how this might impact on their ability to do the job

For EHRC employers’ guidance, click here

For EHRC job applicants’ guidance, click here

For the EHRC research report, click here