Lloyd’s of London – the world's leading market for specialist insurance – has pledged to sponsor this year's Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) Awards to raise awareness of the benefits of inclusion within the insurance sector.

Now in their second year, the awards celebrate progress and recognise the success of organisations that are making headway in increasing the inclusion of disabled professionals.

Established in a coffee house in seventeenth century London, Lloyd's has grown over 325 years to become a global insurance brand. As a market that specialises in unusual risks, Lloyd's has insured some fascinating things over the years: from the first cars and planes to famous body parts.

Commenting on why Lloyd's has chosen to be Silver Sponsor of this year's event, Paul Awcock, Head of Talent Sourcing said: "As an organisation, our success has been built on the fact that we look forward to the future and move with the tide. Inclusion at Lloyd's is a business priority at the moment, and aligns well with the fantastic work that RIDI is doing to promote the engagement of disabled talent.

"We hope that sponsoring these awards will be a 'call to action' for the insurance sector as a whole to reassess its inclusion policies, and open its eyes to the talent it may be missing out on through failing to engage with all talent pools.

"Lloyd's is an inclusive brand, and we will be encouraging the recruitment suppliers we work with to enter the awards. We are currently making a huge internal investment in up-skilling the hiring population to educate them on the business case for diversity and inclusion, in response to an increasing appetite for developing a stronger employer value proposition.

"Our own HR department is focusing on how to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and candidates. I hope that we serve as an example to the insurance industry on best-practise in recruitment and employment opportunities for disabled people.

"I'd urge other employers and recruiters who are taking steps to increase the inclusion of disabled talent to enter the awards today. Submissions close on the 31st July, 2015, and the awards are free to enter and attend".

Image credit: photo of Lloyd's building: by Lloyd's of London [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons