Transparency data

DWP 2024 voluntary reporting on disability, mental health and wellbeing

Published 17 July 2025

The Voluntary Reporting Framework was launched by the government to encourage businesses to report how many of their staff have a disability or health condition, and also to report on the health and wellbeing of staff. The framework was created in partnership with employers and charities. The Civil Service as a whole currently reports against the framework in full – this report provides progress in DWP for 2024 in accordance with the guidance for voluntary reporting.

Introduction from DWP’s Wellbeing Champion Helga Swidenbank, Director of Accessibility, Disability and Disputes

This year, our role in supporting people to find work and being there for our most vulnerable customers has never been more important.  We understand it is important to make sure we continue to make our colleagues feel safe, well and included while at work so that they feel best able to support DWP’s diverse range of customers in unprecedented times. DWP is committed to supporting managers and employees to deliver a truly inclusive working environment whether in a workplace, remotely or a mixture of the two.  

Through DWP’s Wellbeing and inclusion strategies and frameworks, we continue to foster a safe, healthy, and collaborative environment. By prioritising employee well-being and encouraging healthy behaviours, we support all colleagues to thrive in the workplace. This commitment not only makes DWP a great place to work but also enhances our business delivery and service to our customers.

1. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Practices

Through our DWP Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Approach 2023 to 2025, DWP’s EDI shared vision is to be an organisation that will help all colleagues feel engaged and supported to perform at their best and help achieve our legal and ethical commitments to equality and inclusion as well as living our DWP Values.  

DWP has an EDI Steering Group who drive, monitor, and report on actions to ensure inclusive practices in the Department. The group has identified three key evidence-based priorities: one of these being to narrow the difference in the employee engagement index score of colleagues with and without Long-Term Limiting Conditions (LTLC). DWP also has a dedicated Disability Steering Group responsible for driving, monitoring and reporting on accountabilities and actions described in the DWP Disability Action Plan.  

In February 2025, 24.24% of DWP staff reported having a disability, an increase from 22.61% in February 2024. Additionally, 18% of Senior Civil Servants within the department declared a disability, compared to 16% in the previous year.

2. Recruitment Initiatives 

In 2023/2024, 11.2% of all applicants to DWP recruitment campaigns declared a disability compared to 83.5% who said they did not have a disability. At the sift stage, applicants with a disability had a higher success rate than non-disabled with 34.7% of disabled applicants passing the sift stage compared to 32.2% of non-disabled applicants. Of those who passed the sift stage, there was a marginal difference in conditional success rates with 29.6% of disabled candidates and 30.1% of non-disabled candidates who went on to pass the interview stage.  

DWP is a Disability Confident Leader and actively promote our status in all recruitment activities, including by displaying it in all job advertisements, providing details of the scheme in candidate packs and highlighting the Leader status on the DWP Career Hub. This consistent practice ensures that all potential candidates are aware of our commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for people with disabilities both in the workplace and recruitment process.  

We monitor the effectiveness of the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) within DWP recruitment by tracking applicant progress through recruitment campaigns and reviewing usage levels. From 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025, 26% of disabled applicants applying under the DCS were invited to interview compared to 15% of disabled candidates that did not elect to use the DCS.  This resulted in 1200 candidates that applied under the DCS being posted into roles over the same time period.   

DWP worked with Government Recruitment Service (GRS) to trial a Recruitment Adjustment Passport, to lead the way for the Civil Service. Following analysis of the trial, the Recruitment Adjustment Passport was implemented into recruitment processes by GRS and is used to gather a candidate’s adjustment requests for the end-to-end recruitment process to alleviate difficulties, repetition, and inconsistencies throughout. 

The promotion of diverse recruitment panel membership is actively implemented throughout DWP. Our recruitment guidance states that selection panels should comprise a diverse mix of panel members, for example across, gender, age, race, and disability. This approach ensures that we bring varied perspectives and experiences to the decision-making process, fostering an inclusive and fair environment for all candidates. 

DWP have been awarded the RNIB Visibly Better Employer (VBE) status. We are proudly promoting our status; including within our adverts and candidate pack, profile on diverse jobs boards, social media, and CS Careers websites; including the badge to show that we are a VB Employer.

3. Workplace Adjustments 

DWP highly recommends that colleagues experiencing health conditions complete the Civil Service Workplace Adjustment Passport. The purpose of a unified Workplace Adjustment Passport across all departments is to improve the ease with which employees with a disability, health condition or those who are undergoing gender reassignment can move jobs within the Civil Service. 

We have a programme of activity in place to ensure that line managers and employees understand the requirement to consider adjustments for colleagues, and the process for putting them in place. We continually review our processes to improve the delivery of workplace adjustments and to ensure they are as effective as possible in supporting colleagues that require them.

4. Apprenticeships and Internship Programmes 

DWP offers a wide range of apprenticeship programmes that are fully inclusive, ensuring there is an apprenticeship opportunity for all. We encourage DWP customers who are unemployed and face barriers into the workplace to consider joining DWP via our Social Mobility Apprenticeships scheme and many of these apprentices will have faced barriers to work due to long-term health conditions or disabilities.  

We work closely with our apprenticeship training providers to ensure that all learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are supported to complete their programme. In Financial Year 2023/2024, we had 1501 apprenticeship starts, of which 22.8% made a positive declaration for disability and so far in 2024/2025 we have had 511 starts, with 26.6% positive declarations for disability.  

In 2024 the Summer Diversity Internship programme supported 53 interns through the Programme, and the Ambitious about Autism Programme supported 20 interns. We are now collaborating with Cabinet Office to employ autistic candidates via the Going Forward into Employment scheme.

5. Talent and Development Programs 

In 2023, a new development scheme ‘Leaders Like You’ was launched which is available to disabled colleagues. This talent scheme is part of a bigger programme of activity designed to make DWP more representative of the communities we serve, build stronger teams, and diversify talent within DWP. Beyond Boundaries is a 12-month cross-government development programme designed to help participants develop the knowledge, skills and networks required to build a satisfying and effective career in the Civil Service.  The programme is available to substantive AO and EO colleagues, with some places reserved for disabled colleagues. Participation in these programmes does not result in promotion, which can only be achieved through a fair and open recruitment process, appointed on merit.

6. Digital and Physical Accessibility 

DWP ensures digital environments, as well as physical environments, are inclusive and accessible. We have Accessibility Standard Leads throughout our corporate functions.  

The DWP Digital Document Accessibility Policy was published in July 2024 and sets out the responsibilities and standards of digital documents. This policy explains in detail how to comply with the Equality Act (2010), the Public Sector Equality Duty (2011) and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018/2022). 

DWP has developed and published a new e-learning course for all Civil Servants accessible through CS Learning for creating accessible Word documents. PowerPoint and Excel are currently in development and will be released in 2025. 

The DWP Building Design guides are instrumental in ensuring that our buildings adhere to regulatory standards for inclusion and accessibility. We continuously strive to create workspaces that provide the optimal environment for all users.

7. Communications and Awareness 

DWP collaborates with both its internal and external communications teams, as well as colleagues from our Disability Network (THRIVE), to deliver comprehensive communications throughout the year. We link these communications to events including Neurodiversity Week and International Day of Persons with Disabilities. 

Our Disability Champion works closely with our disability networks and sponsors the Civil Service Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network, spearheading communication campaigns, publishing blogs and working with her Senior Civil Service colleagues to highlight challenges and promote learning.  

DWP has a dedicated Neurodiversity Champion and has implemented numerous initiatives over the past year to enhance awareness and provide support. DWP has collaborated with our Employee Assistance Programme to offer a regular series of Neurodiversity Webinars aimed at managers and staff.

8. Resources and Support 

DWP provides a variety of resources to assist individuals in understanding and managing their disabilities and health conditions. These resources are available through online content, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), the Disability and Mental Health Hub, the THRIVE Disability Network intranet page, the Workplace Adjustment Hub, the Customer Accessibility Experience Hub, and the Accessibility Standards learning portal. 

DWP actively engages with colleague networks, including the THRIVE Disability Network, which play a crucial role in promoting awareness, enhancing understanding, and providing insights from colleagues across the department to identify challenges. 

9. Employee Assistance Programme  

Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) service offers a range of psychological support including structured telephone support and face-to-face counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and eye movement de-sensitisation reprogramming.  

We have delivered high impact wellbeing programmes, reaching more than 29,000 DWP colleagues in 2024; this has been achieved through delivering popular Workshops and Virtual Wellbeing webinars and smaller more interactive events, 99% would recommend the session to a colleague. Larger events are also recorded and added to our DWP TV channel. 

Our wellness contracts are delivering excellent outcomes, and high levels of user satisfaction, approximately 98%. 

We have impressive clinical outcomes following counselling, including Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD - 7) with scores showing anxiety reduced by 49.1%, and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ – 9) self-assessments showing depression reduced by 50.8% after counselling.  With 10,782 counselling sessions in 2024, this increased mental health fitness overall and the resilience of our workforce through proactive support and prevention. 

10. Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA)  

Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) are trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues and to provide help signposting colleagues to support services. DWP is committed to a ratio of 1:50 and currently has a 1600 strong MHFA community.  All colleagues are trained by MHFA England qualified trainers to ensure consistency of support offered. DWP run a rolling recruitment programme and offer refresher training to colleagues every 3 years. 

11. Wellbeing Support 

The launch of the Department’s ‘My Wellbeing’ button in March 23 enables easier access and a more streamlined user journey to our DWP Wellbeing support offer from everyone’s desktop, helping colleagues navigate to sources of help, support and information much quicker than before. 

Our active Wellbeing Network of around 1,000 Wellbeing Advocates has been instrumental in embedding consistent wellbeing measures and communications across DWP’s 800+ sites. Our volunteers are responsible for implementing DWP’s Wellbeing activity locally and sign-posting colleagues into our vast range of wellbeing services and support available.  

We have embedded Mental Health Civil Service learning into DWP’s Leadership Essentials Programme. We have reviewed and refreshed our Mental Health Learning for colleagues in Customer Contact roles, following engagement with internal and external expertise. 83,746 colleagues have completed this so far (February 2025).

The Civil Service People Survey (CSPS) asks 4 specific personal wellbeing questions. 

• Overall, to what extent do you feel that things you do in your life are worthwhile?  

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?  

• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?  

• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? 

Plus one question around DWPs Wellbeing support offer. 

• My organisation provides good support for employee health, wellbeing and resilience.

CSPS results showed personal wellbeing remained the same in 2024 as 2023 with 70% of employees reporting that they were satisfied with their lives and the Wellbeing support offer up 2% on 2023 to 71%. The picture is of general stability. 

Since 2016, we have also been monitoring an index of ‘flourishing’ by combining five Civil Service People Survey questions related to five dimensions of flourishing - Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment (PERMA). In 2024, DWP employees had a PERMA index score of 75%, this is up 1% from 2023.  

DWP continue to be recognised as a thought-leader in workplace wellbeing, and our wellbeing approach, achievements, innovative ideas and solutions are regularly published by organisations such as the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (REBA) and Business in the Community (BITC).

12. Conclusion

Our overall objective is to promote and improve employee health outcomes by taking a proactive and preventative approach to good mental and physical health and wellbeing, and by doing this positively we contribute to the Nation’s health goals. We are committed to, and invest in our workforce to ensure we continue to be able to fulfil our mission to improve people’s quality of life now and in the future, and to live by DWPs standards. We want DWP to be a wholly inclusive organisation and one which is representative of the customers and communities we serve.