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Media release December 5 2002

Business Excellence To Be Recognised In European Year Of People With Disabilities

UnumProvident's logo BITC excellence awards for excellence logo Business excellence on disability will be recognised next year, the European Year of Disabled People, as the Employers' Forum on Disability, in association with sponsors income protection specialists UnumProvident, once again announce their support for the Realising Ability Award 2003.

The Award, part of the Business in the Community Awards for Excellence and Europe's only business-to-business disability award, will profile innovative work by UK business on disability, both encouraging and challenging countries across the European business community to increase their commitment to disabled people as employees and customers.

The Award will recognise best practice and innovation in addressing disability as a corporate social responsibility priority. The UK has 8.6 million disabled people - employees, customers, shareholders and members of the community. Companies inclusive of disabled people access untapped reserves of talent; open up new markets; make efficiency gains; promote new sources of creativity; build reputation and brand loyalty.

The Realising Ability Award 2003 will focus on initiatives that demonstrate the social and economic benefits of addressing disability through the employment, retention, empowerment and mentoring of disabled employees, and providing goods and services to disabled customers. In its second year, the Award promises to attract entries the calibre of Centrica and Lloyds TSB who shared the 2002 Award for their exceptional achievements. Organisations that are creative in working towards the mutual benefit of disabled people and the workplace are especially encouraged to apply.

The Realising Ability Award forms one of fifteen award categories in the annual Business in the Community Awards for Excellence. Now in its fifth year, these are the most prestigious awards for corporate responsibility in the UK. The awards criteria were developed according to the European Business Excellence model recommended by the British Quality Foundation to encourage companies to measure, continually improve and communicate their positive impact on society.

Business led, rigorously assessed and continuing to grow in size and influence, the Awards for Excellence focus on impact and evidence of results, and are run by Business in the Community with the Department for Trade and Industry and The Financial Times.

“Enlightened companies now see disability as a major opportunity, with disabled people being employed or receiving services not through charity, but for their contribution to business success. That they should be acknowledged for rightly seeing disability as of central importance to business in the European Year of People with Disabilities is fitting. The work of these organisations will become models for others here and abroad to emulate,”

Julia Cleverdon CBE, Chief Executive, Business in the Community.

“This award marks a groundbreaking commitment to disability from BiTC as the world's leading Corporate Social Responsibility programme - and rewards UK business for making a remarkable contribution to the changing culture of global and UK business”

Chief Executive of the Employers' Forum on Disability, Susan Scott-Parker.

“Sustainable growth and social inclusion go hand in hand. Yet many disabled people find themselves excluded from society, unable to share in the fruits of economic success. We believe this is wrong and that business should make a stand. So, we are proud, in association with the Employers' Forum on Disability, and as part of our leadership of the New Beginnings initiative to support this award for the second year running.”

Joanne Hindle, Corporate Services Director, UnumProvident

Entries from companies must be submitted by March 21st 2003. Judging will take place from April to June. "Examples of Excellence", in each category will be announced at an event in central London in July.

Ends

To register for the award go to http://www2.bitc.org.uk/awards/categories/realisingability.html

For further media information on the Awards for Excellence, including last year's winners, please go to www.bitc.org.uk or contact:

Press Office
Employers' Forum on Disability Telephone: (020) 7089 3020
Email: media@employers-forum.co.uk
John Hutson
UnumProvident
Milton Court
Surrey Telephone: 01306 873 471
Email: john.hutson@unumprovident.co.uk

Notes to editors

  1. Realising Ability Joint Winner 2002, Centrica
    "We are delighted to receive this award in recognition of a scheme which has offered real benefits to Centrica, our employees and customers," said Simon Henderson, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Centrica. "What started as a small-scale recruitment project has grown to become a sustainable employment programme that can be replicated by any large employer, with benefits to society at large."

    Centrica's recruitment and retention of 60 unemployed disabled people to permanent call centre jobs - with the expectation of recruiting a further 100 disabled people by 2003 - is an exceptional achievement. By working in partnership with public sector organisation Jobcentre Plus, Centrica has built opportunities for disabled people to work; and has initiated a best-practice model transferable to employers across the UK.

  2. Realising Ability Joint Winner 2002, Lloyds TSB
    "We are committed to understanding and eliminating barriers and obstacles that are faced by disabled people," said John Spence, Director, Retail Distribution, at Lloyds TSB. "Talking to and understanding the needs of our customers and staff has helped us to design and implement a strategic framework to address inequalities in all areas of our business operations."

    Working extensively with specialist disability consultants, Lloyds TSB has gone beyond compliance to the Disability Discrimination Act, with real innovation in recruitment, training, retention and career development of disabled employees, as well as training of staff, focusing on both employee relations and customer service. The bank's disability strategy is supported by an investment of £26.2 million over 6 years, and is part of a broader commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
  3. Facts about CSR and Disability
    1. The 2001 Global CSR Monitor (20 countries) found that a company's responsibility to society, environmental and labour practices is all seen by the public across 20 countries as more important than its economic contribution. The 2002 Global Inclusion Benchmark (Employer's Forum on Disability) revealed that disabled people were only visible as valued employees, customers and members of the community in 10 out of 50 leading social reports.
    2. Of the British public, 80% say they would expect to see a copy of a company's social or partnership report if they were a shareholder, and 63% would expect to see it if they were an employee. Source: MORI.
    3. Employers of disabled people have consistently found that disabled people are as productive and reliable as other employees. They tend to have better attendance records, stay with employers longer and have fewer accidents at work. The spending power of disabled people has been estimated as between £45-50 billion. Source: Employers' Forum on Disability.
  4. The Awards for Excellence were developed by Business in the Community. They are the most highly developed awards for corporate responsibility. Business-led, assessed by trained, independent assessors, with assurance by AccountAbility - leading social auditors, the criteria were developed according to the European Business Excellence model recommended by the British Quality Foundation and more recently, building on the Business Impact Taskforce recommendations in 'Winning with Integrity'.
  5. The Employers' Forum on Disability is the authoritative employers' voice on disability as it affects business. Members represent over 370 major organisations that currently employ more than 20 per cent of the UK workforce. The Forum works closely with disabled people, government and other stakeholders, sharing best practice to make it easier to employ disabled people and serve disabled customers.

    Some of its achievements in the past year include:

    • Launch of the Global Inclusion Benchmark, an annual global benchmarking exercise to audit companies' reports for reference to people with disabilities and help ensure that they are truly inclusive, sponsored by UnumProvident.
    • Creation of the Broadcasters' Disability Network Manifesto.
    • Distribution of 200,000 free copies of award-winning It's Your Money, a guide to banking for people with learning difficulties, sponsored by Barclays.
  6. UnumProvident is the UK's leading provider of group income protection insurance, with over 30 years of experience and 30%* of the group market. Our critical illness and life insurance products enable our customers to purchase complementary protection that together make a comprehensive protection package.

    Our income protection customers benefit from our expertise in the specialist areas of disability, rehabilitation and return-to-work. We enable individuals to protect their incomes, ensuring their financial security if they are unable to work because of illness or injury. For employers, we safeguard one of their most valuable resources by helping employees return to work following long-term absence.

    At the end of 2001, UnumProvident protected 790,000 lives and had more than 9,800 schemes. During 2001 we paid benefits of over £116 million – of which more than £91 million were in income protection. *Source: GE Frankona Re 2002
  7. 2003 is the European Year of People with Disabilities. The government says the year will "provide an excellent opportunity to involve the UK population in disability issues and to progress the disability agenda". The theme of the year in the UK is 'promoting rights and participation', with sub themes of raising awareness, participation and advocacy/mentoring. For employers, this includes highlighting service to disabled customers, supporting a disability staff network or providing mentors for disabled employees.