New research reveals an alarming trend in the UK; large numbers of disabled people are shut out of the jobs market because of biased recruitment processes.

These findings are echoed by latest government figures which show that there are one million disabled people in the UK who have the interest and ability to work, but are currently not employed.

As a way to tackle this, Scope and Virgin Media have responded with a new multi-year campaign – ‘Work With Me’ – to support more disabled people to get into and stay in work.

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An Opinium survey of 2,000 disabled people commissioned by Scope found that when applying for jobs only half of applications result in an interview, compared with 69 per cent for non-disabled applicants. Disabled people also, on average, apply for 60 per cent more jobs than non-disabled people in their job search.

The research found that 37 per cent of disabled people who don’t feel confident about getting a job believe employers won’t hire them because of their impairment or condition.

The findings show that disabled people who are unemployed and looking for work have lost faith with the recruitment process, as two in five don’t feel confident about their chances of getting a job in the next six months.

Of those, 27 per cent believe they are less likely to be hired than a non-disabled candidate, while 38 per cent are concerned they will be seen as a “risky” hire because of their condition or impairment.

As a result, more than half of disabled people have applied for jobs they know they are overqualified for, with one in three of those saying they did so because they felt their disability makes them a less attractive candidate than non-disabled applicants.

“We have a huge amount of work to do to tackle the disability employment gap. At the current pace of change, the government is set to fail on its pledge to get a million more-disabled people into work,” Mark Atkinson, chief executive at disability charity Scope, said.

“Disabled people with all the skills to do the job are being repeatedly passed over for roles, while others are being forced to apply for jobs which they know they are overqualified for. Employers are missing out on the talent they badly need because they don’t have the right support in place or because of outdated attitudes towards disability.”

“At Scope we want disabled people, colleagues, line managers, employers and others to get behind the Work With Me campaign and work with us to ensure disabled people have an equal opportunity to work.”

Work With Me is a three-year initiative by Scope and Virgin Media to understand and tackle the barriers disabled people face getting into and staying in work. The campaign is inviting members of the public, employers, and government to work together to address these issues more quickly.

The Virgin Media partnership with Scope is part of its own long term focus on improving inclusion at work and transforming the lives of disadvantaged people through technology. To support the launch, Virgin Media is funding Scope’s new digital employment support service for disabled people due to be launched in Autumn 2017.

The partnership ambition is to reach one million disabled people with employment information and support by the end of 2020, so they can get into work, stay in work and realise their career ambitions.

After working with Scope to look at its workplaces, policies and practices, Virgin Media is taking steps to better understand and transform how it supports disabled employees. This includes the training it gives to managers to support disabled colleagues, as well as access to buildings and practical measures such as reasonable adjustments.

“Working with Scope has been eye-opening and we’ve had to face some hard truths to better understand and address the challenges disabled people face. It’s inspired us to launch the ‘Work With Me’ campaign with Scope,” Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media CEO, said. “Together, we’re asking industry, Government and the public to join us and support more disabled people get into and stay in work.”

The company has also taken a number of actions to improve the experience of disabled customers, including: increasing training for staff so they can offer appropriate help and support, and ensuring accessibility features are built into all new products and services.