REACH mentoring programme
About the REACH Programme
REACH is an award-winning mentoring programme that has been created in partnership with Saxton Bampfylde and the Civil Service to help support colleagues with disabilities to maximise their career potential.
Together, we aim to provide mentoring partners exclusively for Grade 6/7 (Band A) and Deputy Director (SCS1) Civil Service colleagues with either a mental health or physical disability. Each mentor is an executive level leader in their own right from outside the Civil Service, who either has a lived experience of disability or who has been involved in shifting the dial on improving development opportunities, career progression and the wider workplace environment for people with any form of disability.
How it works
The REACH Programme is a formal mentoring scheme. The programme is designed to help support colleagues with disabilities to move to the next grade or more stretching roles within the Civil Service. It is a cross-government programme for colleagues with mental and physical disabilities of all ages from G6/7 (Band A) to Deputy Director (SCS1).
It aims to help:
– to increase skills, knowledge and confidence
– to develop confidence to overcome barriers
– to compete on an equal footing for progression within the Civil Service
The mentoring programme will be a formal relationship between mentors and mentees. All mentors are from outside of the Civil Service and are people who really care about nurturing Civil Service colleagues with disabilities. The intention of the programme is to give colleagues with disabilities a safe forum to talk with someone who understands their situation; for mentees to share their concerns/frustrations with progressing in their career as a person with a disability and for mentors to help provide guidance and support and reflections on their own journeys as the mentees try to move to the next level in their career. We anticipate the relationship to last for 12 months with flexibility to extend this further should both parties consider this to be beneficial.
It’s fantastic that the REACH Programme, in partnership with Saxton Bampfylde, is running again. I am pleased we are able to offer more disabled civil servants, from Grade 7 level to Deputy Director levels, the opportunity to be mentored by a senior leader from outside of the Civil Service.
The cross-sector collaboration provides opportunities for participants to learn from executives from a broad range of sectors to build the confidence and skills required to progress. We have many talented, disabled colleagues who aspire to progress to the highest levels of Government.
I wish everyone participating in this programme all the best in progressing their careers.
Sarah Healey
Permanent Secretary of the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and
Civil Service Disability Champion
“I am particularly proud of being part of a programme that exists to enable a playing field for people with disabilities to progress, to feel supported and to thrive in their careers. We have a critical role to play as leadership consultants to advance the way we approach diversity and inclusion.”
Sophie Tredinnick, Partner & Consultant