The government\u2019s annual publication of figures on disability employment has failed yet again to show how disabled people\u2019s experience in the jobs market has changed over the last year.<\/p>\n
The \u201cmain points\u201d of yesterday\u2019s (Wednesday) publication<\/a> on the employment of working-age disabled people show that no easy conclusions can be drawn from the annual figures, because of the way they have been presented.<\/p>\n The figures show 5.6 million disabled people in employment in the UK in\u00a0April to June 2026 and a disability employment rate of 53 per cent, compared to 82.4 per cent of non-disabled people in work.<\/p>\n This suggests the disability employment gap \u2013 the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people \u2013 is still about 30 per cent.<\/p>\n It also says that the proportion of disabled people in work increased by 0.2 percentage points in the latest quarter (April to June 2026) while the disability employment gap decreased by 0.3 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2025, although neither change was statistically significant.<\/p>\n But the annual figures for 2025-26 \u2013 not included in the main report \u2013 show an increase in the disability employment gap, from 26.8 per cent in 2024-25 to 28 per cent in 2025-26, following a fall in the disability employment rate from 55.3 per cent in 2024-25 to 54.3 per cent in 2025-26.<\/p>\n Dr Alex Louise Pearl, policy and campaigns officer for Disability Rights UK<\/a>, said the figures show the disability employment gap remained \u201crelatively consistent\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWith almost one in four people of working-age identifying as disabled, it is imperative that more is done to increase the accessibility, flexibility and security of the labour market for disabled people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government needs to develop a clear and holistic national strategy to close the disability employment gap.<\/p>\n \u201cThis should include: driving the creation of sufficient flexible, accessible, part-time and entry-level roles; ensuring adequate support provision through funding the Access to Work scheme and the implementation of reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010; statutory pay gap and workforce reporting; enhanced pay transparency; and a complete overhaul of the Disability Confident scheme<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline Collier, chief executive of Inclusion Barnet<\/a>, said: \u201cMany disabled people would like to work but are locked out of the jobs market due to barriers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe disability employment gap is persistent and hovers just under the 30 per cent mark, which is a massive waste of talent.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, paid work is not a realistic option for everyone and that needs to be respected, and people need to be supported, but we need to create decent opportunities for people able to work.<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, the solution to the disability employment gap must include an expectation that employers will step up and offer decent, accessible job opportunities \u2013 we can\u2019t just rely on providing employment support to disabled people.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we must totally reject damaging and discouraging threats to disabled people\u2019s social security benefits, whether that be cuts to the system overall or individual \u2018sanctions\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cMore poverty can do nothing but harm \u2013 let\u2019s have a disability strategy resting on real opportunity and not on either threats or empty promises.\u201d<\/p>\n DWP\u2019s report does little to clarify the actual trend in employment of disabled people and the degree of disadvantage they face in the jobs market.<\/p>\n This is chiefly because of the complicating factor of \u201cdisability prevalence\u201d.<\/p>\n Disability News Service has been reporting for more than six years on research which has repeatedly shown how the last government\u2019s supposed success in increasing disability employment and slashing the disability employment gap was merely due to a statistical quirk.<\/p>\n Disabled activists were left bemused for years\u00a0as official figures from the Office for National Statistics appeared to show disabled people were increasingly likely to find work in comparison with non-disabled people, reducing the disability employment gap.<\/p>\n But research by academics from Cardiff Business School \u2013 part of the Disability@Work group of researchers<\/a> \u2013 showed that these figures simply reflected a sharp rise in the proportion of people describing themselves as having an impairment that limited their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.<\/p>\n They showed<\/a> that \u2013 once you allowed for the increase in the proportion of people describing themselves as having an activity-limiting impairment \u2013 the disability employment gap actually rose slightly between 2013 and 2020, although it fell significantly under the last Labour government, between 1998 and 2009.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s government publication says that an estimated 60 per cent of the change in the number of disabled people in employment between 2013 and 2026 was driven by disability prevalence, while an estimated 20 per cent was caused by changes in the employment rate of non-disabled people; and five per cent by increases in the working-age population.<\/p>\n It estimates that just 15 per cent of any improvement has been driven by changes in the actual disability employment gap.<\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s publication does say that the disability employment gap is wider for men; older (aged 50 to 64) people; people with no qualifications; people living in social housing; people not living in a couple; and those living in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the north of England, the West Midlands and Wales.<\/p>\n The figures are based on the Labour Force Survey and the Annual Population Survey, both produced by the Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n A DWP spokesperson said: \u201cFor too long, disabled people have been denied the support they need to get into work and build a better life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe latest disability employment statistics reflect the fact that the welfare system we inherited denies people the opportunities they deserve to find good, secure jobs that work for them.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, we are making progress with the number of disabled people in employment increasing by 150,000 in the last year to 5.6 million, and we continue to invest \u00a33.5 billion in personalised disability employment support, supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to fulfil their full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the government has rejected plans to strengthen the law on what it calls combined discrimination (usually known as intersectional discrimination).<\/p>\n This is discrimination which takes place when a combination of grounds, such as disability and race discrimination, \u201cinteract with each other in a way that produces distinct and specific discrimination\u201d.<\/p>\n