Disability Officer (18 month contract) in Harlow

Salary: £40,000 to £45,000 per annum. 18 month contract. Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday. Reports to: HR Manager. Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site. Extra Information: Open to conversation on hybrid, flexible and compressed working arrangements.

About the role: As Disability Officer, you will be a key advocate for disability inclusion across the organisation. You’ll ensure disabled employees and applicants receive the support, adjustments, and advocacy they need to thrive. Working closely with HR, Facilities, IT, and People Managers, you’ll embed best practice in reasonable adjustments, improve workplace accessibility, and help foster a culture where disabled colleagues feel valued, empowered, and included. You’ll also contribute to the development and implementation of HR, Talent Acquisition, and EDI strategies, policies, and initiatives aligned with organisational goals.

What you will be doing:

• Create processes that support the Foundation in delivering timely, effective, and person-centered reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and applicants.
• Advise and support managers on disability-related issues, including adjustments, accessibility, and inclusive recruitment.
• Coordinate with HR, Facilities, IT, and Occupational Health to deliver adjustments (e.g., equipment, flexible working, accessible technology).
• Support in developing and implementing disability inclusion policies, practices and guidance, ensuring compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and sector best practice.
• Monitor and review adjustments to ensure they remain effective and adapt to changing needs.
• Champion disability awareness across the organisation and promote an inclusive culture through communications, events, and case studies.
• Work closely with the training team as a subject matter expert, ensuring we are providing the relevant training and resources for managers and colleagues.
• Provide advocacy and case management for disabled colleagues and applicants.
• Maintain accurate records of adjustments, outcomes, and feedback, ensuring GDPR compliance.
• Analyse data and trends to identify barriers, measure impact, and inform continuous improvement.
• Contribute to organisational change projects including accessibility audits, policy reviews, and EDI initiatives.
• Build relationships with external partners (e.g., Access to Work, disability networks, Motability Operations) to share best practice and access additional support.
• Work collaboratively with HR Business Partnering team to provide support for HR caseloads where applicable.

Your experience:

• Strong understanding of disability inclusion, reasonable adjustments, and relevant legislation (Equality Act 2010).
• Experience supporting disabled employees or individuals with disabilities, ideally in HR, EDI, or occupational health.
• Excellent communication and advocacy skills; able to build trust and rapport with colleagues at all levels.
• Strong organisational skills; able to manage multiple cases, priorities, and deadlines.
• Collaborative approach to working across departments (HR, Facilities, IT, Occupational Health).
• Ability to interpret and apply policy, guidance, and best practice.
• Experience supporting the delivery of training and awareness activities.
• High emotional intelligence, empathy, and resilience.
• Problem-solving skills in case management and adjustments.
• Competence with HRIS/HR systems and Microsoft Office.
• Commitment to ongoing professional development and disability inclusion.
• Lived experience of disability or supporting disabled individuals is highly valued.
• CIPD qualification Level 5 or equivalent desirable but not necessarily essential.
• Relevant DEI/HR qualification or equivalent experience.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience, we’d still encourage you to apply.

Who are we? We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose. We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.

Why choose us? We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries. We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving. We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff. We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum. A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits.

Some of these include:

• 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/sell up to five days.
• One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
• Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life Assurance of four times your salary.
• Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
• Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
• Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
• Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
• Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and the Dress for Your Day dress code.
• Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you. To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates.