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.
I’m delighted to be supporting the REACH Programme in partnership with Saxton Bampfylde, a mentoring scheme that will help support high performing Grade 7 to Deputy Director level civil servants with disabilities.
The Civil Service has many talented people with visible or non-visible disabilities who would benefit from this scheme in developing their careers. It has been great to hear about the positive impact that the scheme has had on past participants and I wish this year’s cohort all the best in achieving their career goals.
Sarah Healey
Permanent Secretary of the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and
Civil Service Disability Champion
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:
- increase skills, knowledge and confidence
- develop confidence to overcome barriers
- 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.
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
