Companies in action - Building the Disability Dimension into CSR: How Business is Responding
Abbey National
Abbey National worked with The Forum to design the country's first work experience programme for disability employment advisers in The Employment Service. This successful project led to a commitment from The Employment Service to making such opportunities widely available, in a way which should improve the quality of service available to employers and disabled and other disadvantaged job-seekers everywhere.
Barclays
Barclays recently launched "It's your Money" - a guide to using financial services for people with learning difficulties. The Forum has helped Barclays develop a Gold Card initiative which signals a very positive response to the Government's social inclusion/financial literacy agenda. Some 200,000 copies are now being distributed across agencies for people with learning difficulties, Citizen's Advice Bureaus and even prison literacy programmes.
Centrica
For Centrica, Gold Card membership was an important element to their successful approach to Government for funding to enable them to evaluate our Project Led Recruitment Scheme in Manchester. As a result, the Forum is now able to offer detailed guidance to companies seeking to learn from their experience and to systematically recruit significant numbers of people with disabilities. Centrica also recently sponsored a Seeing is Believing training day bringing senior executives together with disabled people to sail a tall sailing ship down the Thames.
HSBC
HSBC, keen to position itself with the small business community has sponsored 200,000 copies of a guide on the business case and disability legislation for the small to medium sized company. The Forum has brought together a consortium around this initiative which includes The CBI, The IOD, The National Chamber of Commerce, The Federation of Small Business and The Disability Rights Commission.
Sainsbury
Sainsbury's Finance Director has hosted "Gold Card Dinners", which facilitate dialogue between government and disabled activists. These events enable both government and Sainsbury's (and thereby the Forum) to build better understanding between the leading disabled lobbyists in the UK, the business community and Ministers.