Submission from Dyscalculia Network to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Inquiry on Employment Support for Disabled People
Written evidence submitted by the Dyscalculia Network CIC (ESD0076)
29 September 2025
On behalf of the Dyscalculia Network, a Community Interest Company supporting and advocating for people with dyscalculia. This submission was developed with input from our Adult Advisory
Board, which includes individuals with lived experience of dyscalculia.
What is Dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is a lifelong neurodevelopmental learning difficulty that affects an individual’s ability to understand and work with numbers. It is independent of intellectual ability or access to education and affects around 6% of the population.
It impacts daily and professional tasks, such as managing finances, time, and data, or interpreting numerical information. Without support, these challenges can limit career opportunities and progression.
Despite these barriers, people with dyscalculia often have valuable strengths, such as creativity and strong social skills. They can thrive in the workplace and should therefore be valued and supported rather than seen as a ‘problem’.
It is essential for workplaces to be aware of these challenges and provide appropriate accommodations and support to ensure employees with dyscalculia can contribute effectively.
Evidence of the impact of dyscalculia:
A 2008 Government Office for Science study found that adults with dyscalculia had reduced lifetime earnings of up to £114,000 and were 7–20% less likely to achieve five or more GCSEs. Additionally, it is reasonable to infer that well-evidenced severe effects of low numeracy on career prospects and successful employment could be even more significant for those with dyscalculia. Low numeracy is also estimated to cost the UK economy £25bn a y ear.
Key Barriers to Employment Support for Dyscalculia
`1. Limited workplace adjustments
Employers often do not have an understanding of the reasonable adjustments and support they should offer to candidates or employees with dyscalculia. Adjustments are often low-cost and
simple, but are nevertheless not widely implemented.
2. Access to Work support is misaligned with needs
Access to Work Needs Assessments tend towards generic diagnosis-led support rather than towards individual strengths and challenges. This is assuming there is sufficient knowledge to offer any adjustment other than a calculator. Whilst this is not as wasteful as generic offerings for dyslexia, as an example, it is inefficient. A better use of funding would be to provide access to specialist strategy-focused coaches and tutors, particularly for one-to-one dyscalculia support.
At present, it is extremely difficult to secure funding for such provision, and most employers and employees cannot afford it themselves. Yet targeted tutoring can be transformative: it helps individuals develop foundational maths skills that directly improve confidence and workplace capability. While specialist support may involve higher upfront costs for the government, the long-term benefits (greater economic participation, higher tax returns, reduced benefit dependency, and lower rates of social exclusion) would likely outweigh the investment.
3. Lack of comprehensive and evidence-based information
There is very limited guidance for employers on gov.uk on how they should support a candidate or employee with dyscalculia. Similarly, there is a lack of information for a person with dyscalculia on the support they are entitled to. There is no page for dyscalculia on the NHS A-Z conditions site, unlike for dyslexia or dyspraxia.
4. Low awareness and no official government recognition
Many issues stem from very poor awareness of dyscalculia generally.
Employers, teachers, policymakers, and local authorities rarely know about dyscalculia, let alone recognise it and understand how to provide support. According to a 2023 survey in the UK, 43% of teachers were ‘Not familiar at all or only slightly familiar’ with dyscalculia, compared to 16% with dyslexia.
There is no official government recognition of dyscalculia. Official recognition would help raise dyscalculia’s profile and have a knock-on effect on people’s experiences at work. The Scottish Government already has a working definition of dyscalculia, and there is a need for a cohesive approach across devolved governments. On international comparisons, the US and Italy have laws requiring assessment and support for dyscalculic learners.
5. Lack of identification and screening
Most people with dyscalculia are never identified and supported, in school and later in life. For example, children with dyslexia are up to 100 times more likely to be diagnosed and supported than those with dyscalculia, despite both conditions having similar life impacts and prevalence rates.
Lack of identification often leads to low confidence and poor mental health, because unidentified individuals are often treated as though they are ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’ and therefore blame themselves for their difficulties. This inevitably impacts future career aspirations.
Additionally, without awareness of their condition, people with dyscalculia cannot know to seek reasonable adjustments from employers.
6. GCSE maths requirements
GCSE maths is one of the greatest barriers to employment for people with dyscalculia. Blanket GCSE maths requirements block entry to many jobs and educational opportunities, even where little to no maths is needed (e.g. teaching English, joining the Armed Forces, or training as a social worker).
