The Commissioners' Code contains special provisions related to the Recruitment of disabled people. The purpose of which are to enable the Civil Service, with its responsibilities as a good employer, to offer encouragement and assistance to disabled applicants.

The definition of a disabled person to be used in this context is that of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act:

"a person who has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."

For Civil Service purposes this means that:

• The disability must last or be expected to last for at least 12 months
• conditions which have a slight effect on day-to-day activities, but are expected to become substantial, are relevant
• eligibility is based on self-declaration, i.e. the applicants must themselves indicate that they have such a disability

The Commissioners recognise that disabled people will often have difficulty in gaining employment through the normal competitive process, and that to require them to go through that process may unfairly disadvantage them. The Commissioners have therefore agreed that departments and agencies may recruit without open competition disabled people who are participants on the WORKSTEP programme. Further information about WORKSTEP can be obtained from www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk.

The Commission also allow departments and agencies to offer encouragement and assistance in the process of selection to disabled applicants, which is not available to other applicants. The Prison Service uses the "Positive about Disabled People" symbol and operates a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for disabled candidates. This means that we are committed to interview all applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for the job vacancy. The GIS is mandatory and covers Recruitment to all posts in the Prison Service including prison officer. Comprehensive information about the operation of the guaranteed interview scheme can be found in Chapter 6 Disability of the Equal Opportunities PSO 8010.

All disabled people appointed via the guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) or WORKSTEP must have their details recorded on the local exceptions register.