Accessibility and Inclusion Manager

Please note, first round interviews will likely take place online w/c 6th April. Second round in-person interviews will take place on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st April.

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to bring people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

Reporting to the Accessibility and Inclusion Lead (A&I Lead), this role is responsible for delivering accessibility across the business including but not limited to, Passenger Assist service improvements, and overall Accessibility Strategy initiatives. The role is responsible for ensuring accessibility-related programmes achieve the desired outcomes, drive value for money, and offer the maximum benefit to customers and colleagues. The role will share our customer insight with the rest of the business and take on board customer and colleague feedback on all aspects of accessibility-related programmes and services they are working on. The post holder will continually review, challenge, and improve or change current processes to deliver efficient and robust improvements. The post holder will be required to have excellent project management, communication and negotiation skills to support delivery of accessibility across the business.  This post will require involvement, including reporting and presenting to a number of SWR improvement working groups.

The role feeds into SWR's purpose by improving the overall customer experience of our disabled and older customers, and improving the equality of opportunity to access all of our services. They will also bring colleagues and external stakeholders together to improve as a collective.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• To support delivery of all accessibility commitments, both regulatory (Office of Rail and Road - ORR) and contractual (Department for Transport - DfT) at the direction of the Accessibility and Inclusion Lead.
• To take ownership of and manage accessibility related projects and initiatives from start to finish, which support delivery of the Accessibility Strategy.
• To be the point of contact for the SWR Contact Centre and Assisted Travel team (Video Contact Centre) for all Accessibility-related enquiries, complaints, and best practice in responses.
• To support implementation of a strategy that drives change in working practices and perceptions that enables equality of opportunity for all customers to be able to travel as they want to.
• To take ownership of ‘business as usual' activities and continue to create a turn up and go culture that provides equal opportunity for customers whilst minimising impacts on performance when customers need extra help while on the SWR network.
• To seek improvements to SWR's services and practice for customers, and to create business cases and source funding as required.
• To support with reporting to stakeholders, including key government departments and the Regulator.
• With the support of the Accessibility and Inclusion Lead, ensure the needs of disabled customers are always considered in the development of new projects – be they infrastructure or policy.
• Continue to develop our network of links with relevant disability organisations, including SWR's Accessibility and Inclusion Forum.
• Attend relevant cross-functional meetings across the business to ensure accessibility is included in project planning.
• Work with front line teams to support change implementation, including the development and management of Equality Impact Assessments.
• To support the A&I Lead with investigations and responses following complaints and legal challenges.

The above encompasses two parts, part one will focus on:

• Development and continuous improvement of the safety-focussed complaints process for failed passenger assistance, and general accessibility complaints.
• Managing the outputs from failed assistance investigations, including lessons learned and escalating any serious safety challenges to necessary colleagues.
• Being accountable for the management and delivery of the Accessibility Risk Register.
• Being accountable for coordinating the delivery of the Passenger Assistance Action Plan.
• Reporting on the progress against the Action Plan, including presenting to internal and external stakeholders.

Part two will focus on:

• Leading the Passenger Assistance programme (Assisted Travel), including active participation at industry working groups, both internal and external.
• Leading data collation of all aspects of Passenger Assistance (Assisted Travel), Accessibility Mystery Shopping, Delays and other regulatory required data.
• Coordination of accessibility requirements, including Passenger Assistance usage, challenging key internal stakeholders to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Delivery and creation of practical accessibility-related training to all areas of the business, augmenting the mandatory training requirements for accessibility, such as Autism Awareness training.
• Engagement with local accessibility organisations to raise awareness of support the railway can provide but also to feedback any challenges to the business from those with lived experience

You'll need:

• Good standard of education
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team, taking ownership of and responsibility for their area and commitments; and able to successfully adapt to changing priorities.
• Outstanding communication, presentation and influencing skills are a must, including the ability to effectively communicate proposals and strategies to senior leaders across the business.
• Excellent communication, both written and verbal.
• First-rate customer service skills ensuring empathy and understanding of customer needs and requirements, with the ability to impart this culture and knowledge to the wider business.
• Be resilient to challenges from internal and external sources.
• Good IT skills, comfortable with spreadsheets and interpreting abstract data and comments.
• Ability to consult and negotiate with others, both internally and externally.
• Awareness of the challenges faced by disabled customers using public transport

It would be great if you have:

• Experience in the successful support of programmes or projects.
• Perseverance against challenge and manage differing expectations.
• Working knowledge of databases/CRM systems.
• Awareness of the rail industry and associated organisations.
• Experience conducting and managing Equality Impact Assessments.
• Awareness of Equality Legislation, especially The Equality Act 2010; and regulations and practices governing accessibility in the railway.

Awareness of Equality Legislation, especially The Equality Act 2010; and regulations and practices governing accessibility in the railway.

Working pattern

You'll be working an average of 37 hours across 5 days per week; Monday - Friday, office hours.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/