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Scope's Support to Work scheme started in 2018 and has hit the landmark figure as the pandemic makes things worse for job applicants. In October there was a 236 percent increase in disabled

people seeking help compared with the same time last year. Mark Hodgkinson, the charity's chief executive, said: "Disabled people have been hit extremely hard by the pandemic and we've yet

to feel its full economic fallout. Never have our employment support programmes been so badly needed."

Support to Work offers online advice such as how to write a CV or cover letter, and interview practice.

Virgin Media and Scope are also promoting their Work With Me platform to persuade firms to take on the disabled. Since its launch last year, 100 firms including Ford, American Express and

Unilever have signed up.

The disability employment gap has remained static for over a decade, with disabled people about 30 percentage points behind the able bodied, the organisations said.

Jeff Dodds, Virgin Media's chief operating officer, said: "It is an uncomfortable truth that huge numbers of disabled people continue to be left out of the workplace, with the Covid-19

crisis forcing even more disabled people out of work.

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"Our Work With Me community has never been more important or timely; helping employers - no matter their size - to become more inclusive and supportive of disabled people.

"As a business leader I have seen first-hand the benefits of employing disabled people and how they have enriched our company with soughtafter skills, from diversity of thought to

problem-solving and creativity."

Jaki Wilson, 48, from Basingstoke, Hants, is blind and used Support to Work twice, including to switch from being a hospital support worker to working with survivors of domestic violence.

Jaki said that changing "career was like going into the unknown, with my eyesight condition it was really quite scary.

"My adviser coached me through how to talk about my disability positively." Before in interviews Jaki was saying what she couldn't do "rather than getting them to think about how I can do

the job".

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