Date published:
6 October 2025
Mr. Speaker, I wish to make a statement to the Assembly regarding my plans to bring forward a new Disability and Work Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Disability influences lives in many unique and personal ways and the issues faced by disabled people can be complex and intersectional.
Representing one in four working-age people in Northern Ireland, few of us are untouched by disability.
Yet many disabled people and people with health conditions face multiple barriers, which can lead to poverty; social exclusion; inequality and disadvantage, amongst a range of other challenges.
Employment can offer a means to help address and overcome many of the challenges faced.
And yet, despite the representation of disability across society, only 41% of disabled people in Northern Ireland are in work. This is the worst in the UK.
Furthermore, disabled people who are in employment tend to occupy lower quality jobs; earn less; and find it harder to progress in their careers.
Put simply, Northern Ireland’s performance on disability employment has not been good enough. Mr Speaker, I want us to do better.
I am therefore bringing forward a new Disability and Work Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Co-produced by a wide range of partners, including those with lived experience of disability; this Strategy sets out a clear commitment to see an additional 50,000 disabled people in the workforce by 2036; and a disability employment rate at 50% and growing.
This will ensure that more disabled people and people with health conditions have access to; can sustain; and can thrive in quality employment within an inclusive Northern Ireland labour market.
This work intersects with a range of strategic agendas such as our Executive Anti-poverty Strategy; Skills Strategy; Autism and Mental Health Strategies; and the Review of Special Educational Needs provision.
And of course, it also aligns to our forthcoming Executive Disability Strategy, which I plan to bring forward in the coming weeks.
In co-producing this Strategy, we have placed people with lived experience of disability at the centre – involving them at every stage, to ensure that we have identified and shaped the change needed to achieve better outcomes.
We have a wealth of experience within our voluntary and community sector – delivering close support for many years to disabled people. Their insight and value cannot be overstated, alongside the contributions of all partners across the disability and work agenda.
We have worked with a diverse group of over 100 stakeholders – including disabled people, community and voluntary organisations, employers and their representative bodies, central and local government, academics, and trade unions – each contributing their views, experiences, and priorities to help inform and shape the Strategy and its actions.
And this partnership working will continue as we move forward through detailed design, implementation, and monitoring of interventions.
The Strategy is constructed around four themes.
Under a Personalised Support theme, the Strategy recognises that each person has unique circumstances, needs, and ambitions when it comes to work.
There is already so much good work delivered by many dedicated and expert individuals across our disability and work ecosystem.
This theme aims to build upon these foundations to ensure that we meet the diverse needs of all disabled people, whether that be light touch interventions, or more specialised, long-term, and ongoing interventions such as through the supported employment model. Mr Speaker, our support must work for everyone.
We will achieve this through more and better engagement by our frontline teams; by identifying improvements and ensuring stability in our pre-employment and in-work supports; and by further integrating health and employability provision to create clear employment pathways for disabled people, working closely with the Department of Health.
Under a second theme of Inclusive Skills, Careers, and Educational Transitions, we will ensure that skills provision and careers advice is accessible and tailored; that support is available for those who wish to pursue self-employment; and, that young people with special educational needs are supported during key educational transition points as they begin their employment journeys.
We will continue to work closely with the Departments for Education and Economy, as well as wider partners in this space, to ensure a joined-up approach that removes cliff-edges and delivers continuous support.
The Strategy’s third theme focuses on Supporting and Enabling Employers.
Whilst employers play a crucial role within this agenda, we need to recognise that they too need support – support that helps them shape our workplace cultures, employment practices, and contributes to more disabled people finding, sustaining and flourishing in employment.
We will advocate the benefits of disability employment; help build employer awareness of best practice; and make it easier to navigate and benefit from the support available.
We want to see workplaces where disabilities and health conditions can be disclosed with confidence, and where line managers are supported to effectively respond to the needs of their staff.
The fourth and final theme consists of a range of actions deemed as Strategic and Structural Enablers.
This theme enhances partnership working; drives and informs our activity; sets out commitments related to the Public Sector leading by example; and delivers clear reporting and monitoring of progress under the Strategy.
For the first time in our history, we are proposing a Disability and Work Council for Northern Ireland, which will have oversight of delivery against our commitments.
It will be tasked with co-ordinating and supporting delivery, engaging with disabled people and employers, and co-producing interventions.
Its membership will comprise a wide representation of expert partners, and alongside my Department, it will be jointly chaired by a disabled person.
During the lifetime of the Strategy there will be continuous monitoring of its delivery, with annual progress reports, and a mid-point review to ensure that we are responsive to any wider influences and opportunities that may arise.
Mr Speaker, today I am launching a 12-week public consultation on this Disability and Work Strategy.
This wide-reaching conversation with society provides an opportunity for everyone to contribute their views; and highlight any areas that can be strengthened further.
As part of the process, we will be hosting a series of ‘road-show events’; and documents will be available in a range of accessible formats to make it as easy as possible for everyone to contribute to the consultation.
But I do want to take a moment to stress the need for adequate resources to implement this Strategy.
Disability employment is not a challenge that my Department can solve in isolation. We have worked closely across Departments to commit to actions under this Strategy, and the Executive has given its endorsement.
But without additional resources to implement actions, we will not see the important changes that we all want to see – or the wider positive impacts on economic inactivity, poverty, health and wellbeing, social inclusion, and our economy.
Our forthcoming 3-year budget provides the opportunity to kickstart this momentum. I intend to include resourcing requirements for this Strategy within my own departmental bid, and I encourage other action owners to do the same.
It is essential that these resourcing bids are met in full, or we risk continuing to see many disabled people excluded from the labour market and deprived of the opportunity to fulfil their career ambitions.
The support of my Executive colleagues and members of this Assembly is essential to secure the necessary resources to deliver this Strategy in full.
In closing, I want to sincerely thank everyone across the disability and work ecosystem who has contributed to the development of this Strategy. Your insight, experience, and commitment have shaped a vision that is ambitious, inclusive, and achievable.
To disabled people and those with health conditions across Northern Ireland: I see your talent, your drive, and your aspirations. This Strategy is about matching your ambitions with real opportunities creating the conditions for you to thrive, not just survive, in the workplace. You deserve nothing less.
Mr Speaker, no single person or organisation owns disability or employment. Real change will only come when we work together government, employers, the voluntary and community sector, and society as a whole sharing responsibility and pushing each other to go further.
In bringing forward this Strategy, I am committing to action. We will build on what works, change what doesn’t, and ensure that every disabled person has a fair chance to access, sustain, and progress in quality employment.
This is not just a strategy it is a promise. A promise of progress, of partnership, and of possibility. Together, we will deliver change that is felt in workplaces, in communities, and in lives. Let’s get this done and let’s make a difference.
I commend this statement to the House.