Improving the job prospects of disabled people

21st August 2025

According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) there are around 700,000 disabled people currently not in work but who want to work. Disabled people face higher barriers getting into work and they leave the workforce at twice the rate of those without disabilities. There is a persistent “disability employment gap” which is the difference in employment rates between disabled and non-disabled people. The gap is currently 28%.

The House of 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. The first stage is a call for evidence and the Committee is asking for the views of disabled people, employers, and experts. Evidence can be submitted until 29 September 2025.

Call for evidence

The Government published other statistics earlier this summer about the employment of disabled people in 2024. It found that the disability employment gap is wider for men, older people (aged 50 to 64), people with no qualifications and people living in social housing. It is wider for people living in Northern Ireland, the north of England, Scotland and Wales.

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

The questions asked include:

  • Why has progress with closing the disability employment gap slowed in recent years?
  • 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?
  • 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?
  • How effective is the support provided by Disability Employment Advisers? Are they able to support across all disabilities?
  • How successful has Access to Work been at supporting disabled people into work? How could it be improved?
  • How successful has the Disability Confident scheme been at improving employer practices? How could it be improved?
  • Are there any international examples, or examples from the devolved nations, of effective disability employment support that the Government could learn from?

Once the evidence has been considered, the Committee will make recommendations to the Government to help improve the job prospects for disabled people.

Access to Work

Despite Government programmes being available, like Access to Work, the Committee says that “progress has stalled” on closing the disability employment gap. 

Access to Work is a publicly funded employment support grant scheme that can help people get into work or stay in work if they have a physical or mental health condition or disability. Through Access to Work, someone can apply for:

  • A grant to help pay for practical support at work and this can include specialist equipment and assistive software, support workers, the costs of travelling to work if public transport can’t be used or adaptations to the individual’s vehicle so that they can get to work.
  • Support with managing mental health at work and this can include a tailored plan to help someone get into or stay in work or one-to-one sessions with a mental health professional.
  • Money to pay for communication support at job interviews such as a British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreter.

For more details of Access to Work, eligibility and how to apply see here.

Disability pay gap

The disability pay gap is different to the disability employment gap and a consultation exercise about introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers ended on 10 June 2025. For more details of the mandatory reporting that is proposed, the additional reporting requirements for public bodies and ethnicity and disability data collection and calculations, see our previous article.

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