The Bank of England joined the Valuable 500, the disability inclusion campaign, on 25 July 2019. The Valuable 500 is a global movement putting disability on the business leadership agenda. Its goal is to sign up 500 national and multinational firms by the end of 2019. Today, Mark Carney has a co-signed a letter with other Valuable 500 leaders, encouraging other CEOs to sign up.
The Bank’s commitment to disability and long-term conditions is reflected in the Bank being awarded Silver status in the Business Disability Forum’s Disability Standard. This globally recognised tool allows organisations to measure the support provided to those with disabilities or long term conditions.
The Bank’s recent work in supporting colleagues, visitors and the general public has led to a significant improvement in our Disability Standard score, from 51% in 2017 to 83% this year.
Victoria Cleland, Executive Director for Banking, Payments & Innovations, and Executive Sponsor of the Bank’s disAbility Network said: “Being part of the Valuable 500 signals publicly the Bank’s commitment to disability inclusion and the importance we place on having a diverse and inclusive workplace. We hope that more firms will follow in our footsteps.
The Bank being awarded the Disability Standard Silver status is a fantastic achievement. But it did not come without a lot of hard work across the Bank. The disAbility Network have played a really important role in raising awareness of the issues, and highlighting where changes are needed to support our staff, prospective staff, and those who interact with the Bank. It has also needed considerable input from key business areas to implement changes, for example, to our infrastructure, and our approach to communication. Silver status is superb, but as my day job includes custody of the gold it would be great to achieve that next!”
