Almost half of public bodies are failing to meet the statutory target for employing people with disabilities, despite a small rise in numbers of disabled staff working in the public sector in 2008, writes Jamie Smyth.
In 2008 the number of public sector employees who declared a disability was 6,083, a rise of 204 on the number reported in 2007, a new report by the National Disability Authority says.
Under the Disability Act 2005 all public sector bodies must ensure at least 3 per cent of staff are people with disabilities, unless there are good reasons to the contrary.
The report shows 55 per cent of public bodies met this target in 2008, compared to 51 per cent of bodies a year earlier. All 15 Government departments met the 3 per cent target.
