Fairness

2.4% of UK employers explicitly welcome under-represented groups, disabled candidates or veterans on their careers pages

Under-represented groups, disabled candidates, armed forces veterans: who 74,485 UK employers say they want.

Data to 28 October 2026
James Costello
By James Costello, Founder · last updated 28 October 2026

Across 74,485 UK employers' careers pages, 2.4% explicitly welcome at least one of three groups: under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans.

Who gets an invitation

  1. Disabled candidates: 1.3% of employers
  2. Under-represented groups: 0.9% of employers
  3. Armed forces and veterans: 0.5% of employers

By sector

  1. Public administration & defence: 10%
  2. Health & social care: 3.4%
  3. Arts, entertainment & recreation: 3.3%
  4. Water, sewerage & waste: 3.2%
  5. Other services: 3%
  6. Real estate: 2.9%
  7. Finance & insurance: 2.6%
  8. Transport & storage: 2.6%
  9. Energy supply: 2.6%
  10. Education: 2.5%

How we measured it

We read every careers page and job advert we hold for each employer. Under-represented groups: positive action, or "we particularly welcome applications from" ethnic minorities, women, disabled or under-represented people. Disabled candidates: Disability Confident or a guaranteed interview. Armed forces: the Armed Forces Covenant, an Employer Recognition Scheme award, or welcoming service leavers and veterans. Legal clauses, generic "all backgrounds" lines and services for these groups do not count. We checked a sample of flagged pages by hand. This is what employers publish, not what they practise.

What an employer chooses to say about who it welcomes — and the order it says it in — is a real signal. We read the actual welcome wording.
— James Costello, Founder, ProdReady Recruitment
Headline
2.4%

2.4% of UK employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans on their careers pages (n=74,485 employers).

Sample: 74,485 employers · source: UK employers' careers pages · data to 28 October 2026

By sector

SectorFigureSample (employers)In words
Public administration & defence 10% 498 Public administration & defence: 10% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=498 employers).
Health & social care 3.4% 8,979 Health & social care: 3.4% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=8,979 employers).
Arts, entertainment & recreation 3.3% 4,283 Arts, entertainment & recreation: 3.3% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=4,283 employers).
Water, sewerage & waste 3.2% 444 Water, sewerage & waste: 3.2% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=444 employers).
Other services 3% 6,809 Other services: 3% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=6,809 employers).
Real estate 2.9% 1,764 Real estate: 2.9% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=1,764 employers).
Energy supply 2.6% 388 Energy supply: 2.6% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=388 employers).
Transport & storage 2.6% 1,872 Transport & storage: 2.6% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=1,872 employers).
Finance & insurance 2.6% 2,495 Finance & insurance: 2.6% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=2,495 employers).
Education 2.5% 8,668 Education: 2.5% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=8,668 employers).
Mining & quarrying 2.4% 82 Mining & quarrying: 2.4% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=82 employers).
Professional, scientific & technical 2.4% 7,562 Professional, scientific & technical: 2.4% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=7,562 employers).
Information & communication 2.3% 5,227 Information & communication: 2.3% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=5,227 employers).
Administrative & support services 2.2% 3,970 Administrative & support services: 2.2% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=3,970 employers).
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 2.1% 677 Agriculture, forestry & fishing: 2.1% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=677 employers).
Construction 1.7% 5,482 Construction: 1.7% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=5,482 employers).
Manufacturing 1.5% 5,132 Manufacturing: 1.5% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=5,132 employers).
Wholesale & retail 1.2% 4,508 Wholesale & retail: 1.2% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=4,508 employers).
Hospitality & food service 1% 4,811 Hospitality & food service: 1% of employers explicitly welcome at least one of under-represented groups, disabled candidates or armed forces veterans (n=4,811 employers).

By model, framework or tool

TopicFigureSample (employers)In words
Disabled candidates 1.3% 74,485 Disabled candidates: explicitly welcomed by 1.3% of UK employers on their careers pages (n=74,485 employers).
Under-represented groups 0.9% 74,485 Under-represented groups: explicitly welcomed by 0.9% of UK employers on their careers pages (n=74,485 employers).
Armed forces and veterans 0.5% 74,485 Armed forces and veterans: explicitly welcomed by 0.5% of UK employers on their careers pages (n=74,485 employers).

About the author

James Costello
James Costello
Founder, ProdReady Recruitment

The research is produced by the founder of ProdReady Recruitment, a UK AI recruitment business. Every figure on this page is computed from UK employers' careers pages, and the text-reading measures are checked by hand against real pages.

LinkedIn

Download the data

Free under CC BY 4.0 — use it with attribution. Every row carries the figure, its sample and the data-to date.

CSV for this story All findings (CSV)

Use the chart

2.4% of UK employers explicitly welcome under-represented groups, disabled candidates or veterans on their careers pages

Free to publish under CC BY 4.0, with a credit and a link to this page.

Download PNG

Cite this

Free to quote with a credit and a link.

James Costello (2026). Who UK employers say they welcome. ProdReady Recruitment. Data to 28 October 2026. https://ProdReadyRecruitment.com/research/who_welcome

Need a custom cut?

Journalists and analysts can ask for a breakdown by sector, city, region or language, or the underlying table.

Ask us

Related research