Committees

Disability employment

Inquiry

Disabled people face significant barriers to work that non-disabled people do not, and despite employers having a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace to accommodate them, there is evidence to suggest that many are not making these changes. Whilst the disability employment rate has risen in recent years, the disability employment gap (the difference between the proportions of disabled and non-disabled people in work) has flatlined at around 29 percentage points.

The Government has recently announced several policies designed to increase employment rates among disabled people, including in its Transforming Support White Paper, at Spring Budget 2023, when it announced the introduction of Universal Support and the piloting of WorkWell, and in its Disability Action Plan, published in February 2024.

The Work and Pensions Committee is now conducting a follow-up inquiry to its 2021 inquiry into the disability employment gap to scrutinise the effectiveness of the Government’s proposals for supporting disabled employment and reducing the disability employment gap.

Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry

The call for evidence is also available in alternative formats via the links below:

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Thursday 28 March 2024.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Wednesday 15 May 2024
9:25am Public
Disability employment - Oral evidence 15 May 2024
9:25am
  • Becca Stacey (Senior Research Officer at Money and Mental Health Policy Institute)
  • Ruth Wakeman (Director of Services, Advocacy and Evidence at Crohn's and Colitis UK)
  • Ceri Smith (Head of Policy and Evidence at MS Society)
  • Russell Fleming (Head of Communications at ME Association)
10:25am
  • Georgia Harper (Policy Manager at Autistica)
  • Alison Thwaite (WorkFit Employment Development Manager at Down’s Syndrome Association)
  • Evan John (Policy and Public Affairs Adviser at Sense)
Room 6, Palace of Westminster
Wednesday 1 May 2024
9:25am Public
Disability employment - Oral evidence 1 May 2024
9:25am
  • Laura Davis (Chief Executive Officer at British Association of Supported Employment)
  • Nic Murray (Policy Manager at Leonard Cheshire)
  • Professor Kim Hoque (Co-Founder at Disability@Work)
10:25am
  • Professor Helen Lawton Smith (Professor of Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck, University of London)
  • Dr Christine Grant (Associate Professor (Research), Centre for Healthcare and Communities at Coventry University)
  • Professor Ian Burn (Professor of Economics at University of Liverpool)
  • Jacqueline Winstanley (Chief Executive Officer at Universal Inclusion)
Room 8, Palace of Westminster

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  • Email: workpencom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 8976 | 020 7219 1679 (Media)
  • Address: Work and Pensions Committee | House of Commons | London | SW1A 0AA