Disabled people in employment

The number of disabled people in the UK was higher in the first quarter of 2023 than in this quarter in 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, although the employment rate remained at the same level. The number of unemployed disabled people was also unchanged, but the unemployment rate fell.

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

How many people in the UK are disabled?

There were 9.58 million people of working age (16 to 64) who reported that they were disabled in January to March 2023, which is 23% of the working-age population. This is an increase of 598,000 from the year before.

How many disabled people are employed?

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

5.15 million working-age disabled people were in employment in January to March 2023 , an increase of 325,000 from October to December 2021.

The employment rate of disabled people was 53.7%, unchanged from a year previously. The employment rate for people who are not disabled was 82.7%.

How many disabled people are unemployed?

The number of people with a disability who were unemployed was unchanged in the first quarter of 2023 from the previous year, but the rate of unemployment fell.

In January to March 2023, 342,000 working-age disabled people were unemployed. The unemployment rate for disabled people was 6.2%, down from 6.6% a year previously since the total number of disabled people also increased. The unemployment rate for people who are not disabled was 3.4%.

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 first quarter of 2023 than a year before.

There were 4.09 million disabled people of working age in in January to March 2023 who were economically inactive. This was an increase of 273,000 from a year before.

The inactivity rate for disabled people increased slightly. It was 42.7%, up from 42.5% a year previously. The inactivity rate for people who are not disabled was 14.3%.

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 first quarter of 2023, the gap was 29.0 percentage points.

Between January to March 2014 and January to March 2023, the disability employment gap reduced by 4.8 percentage points. This was because the employment rate for disabled people has risen faster than the employment rate for people who are not disabled. However, in the 12 months to January to March 2023, the gap increased by 0.8 percentage points, and it is 0.2 percentage points higher than before the pandemic 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.

People with learning difficulties as a main or secondary health condition had the lowest employment rates in April 2021 to March 2022, with only 28% in work.

People with one health condition had an employment rate of 65%, but this fell to 28% for those people with five or more health conditions.

What is government policy on employment for 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 says a Disability Action Plan will be consulted on and published in 2023.

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.