Disabled people in employment

The number of working-age (16 to 64) disabled people in the UK was higher in the final quarter (October to December) of 2023 than in the final quarter of 2022, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Force Survey.

Over the same time frame, the number of disabled people in employment increased, and there was a fall in the number of unemployed disabled people. There was also an increase in the number of disabled people who were economically inactive.

The employment rate for disabled people was lower than for non-disabled people, although the gap between the rates decreased between the final quarter of 2022 and the same quarter in 2023.

This briefing describes the ONS’s employment statistics for disabled people and the government’s programmes to support disabled people in work.

How many people in the UK are disabled?

There were 10.21 million people of working age (16 to 64) who reported that they were disabled in October to December 2023, which is 24% of the working-age population. This is an increase of 459,000 from the year before.

How many disabled people are employed?

There were more working-age disabled people in employment in the last quarter of 2023 than a year before.

There were 5.53 million working-age disabled people in employment in October to December 2023, an increase of 338,000 from October to December 2022.

The employment rate of disabled people was 54.2%, up from 52.7% a year previously. The employment rate for people who are not disabled was 82.0%.

How many disabled people are unemployed?

The number of disabled people who were unemployed fell in the final quarter of 2023 from the previous year.

In October to December 2023, 329,000 working-age disabled people were unemployed, a fall of 79,000 from October to December 2022.

The unemployment rate for disabled people was 5.6%, which compared with a rate of 3.6% for people who are not disabled.

How many disabled people are economically inactive?

More disabled people of working age were economically inactive, which means they were not in work and not looking for work, in the last quarter of 2023 than a year before.

There were 4.35 million disabled people of working age in October to December 2023 who were economically inactive. This was an increase of 150,000 from a year before.

Despite this increase, the inactivity rate for disabled people decreased. It was 42.6%, down from 43.1% a year previously. This was because the increase in economically active disabled people was larger than the increase in economically inactive disabled people. The inactivity rate for people who are not disabled was 14.9%.

What is the disability employment gap?

The ‘disability employment gap’ is the difference in the employment rate of disabled people and people who are not disabled. In the last quarter of 2023, the gap was 27.9 percentage points.

Between October to December 2014 and October to December 2023, the disability employment gap reduced by 5.9 percentage points, although most of this narrowing of the gap took place before October to December 2019. This was because the employment rate for disabled people has risen faster than the employment rate for people who are not disabled.

The gap has remained at a similar level since 2019, and in October to December 2023 the gap was only slightly smaller than the gap in October to December 2019.

How does disability type affect employment?

The proportion of disabled people who are in employment varies considerably depending on the type of disability and how many health conditions they have.

For example, less than a third of disabled people with epilepsy, autism, severe/specific learning difficulties or mental illness as a main or secondary health condition were in employment. In comparison, around half of all disabled people were in employment.

People with one health condition had an employment rate of 65%, but this fell to 29% for those people with five or more health conditions.

What is Government policy on employment for disabled people?

In November 2023, the Government published its Back to Work Plan. This expanded some of the employment programmes that are specifically aimed at disabled people.

In March 2023, the Government published the Transforming Support white paper with proposals aimed at helping “more disabled people and people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work”.

The white paper followed a consultation linked to the July 2021 Shaping future support: the health and disability green paper.

Also in July 2021, the Government published its National Disability Strategy, which set out other ways in which it intended to support disabled people to find and stay in work.

The Government had previously set out a 10 year plan on how it intends to get 1 million more disabled people into employment by 2027 in the November 2017 Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability white paper.

This briefing provides an overview of the schemes that the Government has in place to support disabled people to find and stay in work in section 3.