Work and Pensions Committee announce new inquiry: disability employment gap

The Commons Work and Pensions Committee has launched a new inquiry, Employment support for disabled people, on how to improve the job prospects of disabled people and is calling for the views of disabled people, employers, and experts.

One in four of the working-age population are reported as disabled (10.2 million including 5.52 million in employment), but disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed (6.9%) compared to non-disabled people (3.6%). Meanwhile between 2014 and 2023, disabled people were getting into work at a third the rate of non-disabled people (10.1% vs 27.2%), while leaving the workforce at twice the rate of those without disabilities (8.6% vs 4.9%)

According to the DWP there are around 700,000 disabled people – nearly equal to the population of Leeds - who don't currently have a job want to work.  Despite Government programmes being available, like Access to Work which offers grants for specialist equipment and aid including travel to work, progress has stalled on closing the ‘disability employment gap' which remains at 28%. The scheme has seen increased demand leading a backlog of more than 60,000 cases, according to the DWP.

An additional £2.2bn has been earmarked by the Government for employment support before the next election, a package which includes a personalised support guarantee for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.

Work and Pensions Committee Chair, Debbie Abrahams, said, “The statistics show us that disabled people face higher barriers to getting into work, and they are more likely to fall out of work. There are also considerable differences across the country. “

“This is a worrying trend given the impact it could have on people living in poverty and their health and wellbeing.”

“The Government has made getting more people into work a core policy focus. and has promised more funding for employment support for those affected by recent benefit changes. It's promise of more funding for employment support is an important opportunity to improve the prospects of disabled people, which the Government must seize.”

“We want to understand the root causes of the persistent disability employment gap and a way to hear ideas for making the routes into work smoother.”

“We're looking for help from the academic community, employment support providers, advocate groups and people with lived experience to submit evidence so that we can make reasoned recommendations to the Government to help improve job prospects for disabled people.”

Call for evidence and terms of reference

To submit evidence, please visit the inquiry's evidence submission page before 16:00 on 29^th September with answers to any of the questions below.

1. Why has progress with closing the disability employment gap slowed in recent years?
2. What barriers prevent disabled people who want to work, or to work more, from doing so? How do these vary for different disabilities? How do these vary across the country?
3. What kinds of support are most effective at supporting people with different disabilities (such as physical, mental or fluctuating conditions) to enter and stay in work?
4. How effective is the support provided by Disability Employment Advisers? Are they able to support across all disabilities?
5. What can the Government learn from the Work and Health Programme?
6. How successful has Access to Work been at supporting disabled people into work? How could it be improved?
7. How successful has the Disability Confident scheme been at improving employer practices? How could it be improved?
8. How well is Connect to Work working? Does it work better in some circumstances, or for some disabilities, than others?
9. What effect does the Motability scheme have on employment outcomes for disabled people?
10. What should the Government prioritise with its additional employment support for disabled people arising from the Pathways to Work Green Paper?
11. What should be the focus of the 1,000 Pathway to Work advisors?
12. Are there any international examples, or examples from the devolved nations, of effective disability employment support that the Government could learn from?
13. To what extent is the success of DWP's plans to improve disability employment contingent on improvements made to other public services, in particular, health?
14. How can DWP apply a systems-based approach to safeguarding in the design and delivery of employment support for disabled people?

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• The predecessor Committee began taking evidence on disability employment in 2024, but the inquiry was cut short by the general election.
• The number of working-age disabled people increased by 650,000 last year (up to June 2024). 5.6 million disabled people were in work as of June 2024. Source: DWP
• In January, the Government launched a review led by Sir Charlie Mayfield to examine the role of employers and Government in improving the recruitment and retention of disabled people and the drivers of economic inactivity.
• We define a 'systems-based approach' to safeguarding, as one which ensures that safeguarding is explicitly considered at each point in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages of all policies.