People with Disabilities: Employment

Baroness Uddin Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I share the noble Baroness’s desire to find more opportunities for people with learning disabilities, severe autism and other conditions to get the benefits of work, of which money is but one. I pay tribute to the work she has done in creating Team Domenica and the work it has done in supporting learning-disabled people into work. I am sure the whole House would share in that.

Having said all that, successive Governments have taken a view that the best way to support disabled people into work is not necessarily by changing the rules around national insurance or the minimum wage. The noble Baroness is absolutely right that the level of employment for disabled people is only around 50% and for those with autism around 30%, and, as she says, it is vanishingly small for those with learning disabilities. We believe passionately that disabled people are vital to the UK’s workforce. The way we have approached this is with the priority of providing opportunities and support for disabled people to thrive in work. That is why we commissioned the independent Keep Britain Working review, which will be published shortly, to understand how we can create and maintain the kind of workplaces that want to support disabled people and enable them to thrive. It is why we are reforming employment, health and skills support, to tackle rising economic inactivity and get people into good jobs. We want the same thing; we are doing it in different ways, but we are determined to make things better.

[Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Monckton, for her important Question. I declare my interest as having a 46 year-old son with a learning disability and autism. I am currently mentoring a highly educated 38 year-old young man, who has four degrees, including a master’s and a PhD. He still cannot find a job. Is the Minister satisfied that the local authority allocation for Connect to Work will be ring-fenced for that precise purpose? Will she consider apprenticeship schemes specially designated for people with autism?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for sharing her circumstance with us. I am really optimistic about Connect to Work. For noble Lords who do not know, Connect to Work is a specialist voluntary support and employment programme. It is for anyone who is disabled or who has a health condition or other barrier to work, such as homelessness. Local authorities, supported by DWP, are developing programmes. The reason it works—there is international evidence that shows what works in this space—is that it incorporates helping someone to work out what they want, engaging with employers and job-finding. A specialist adviser works with an individual and with local employers, and connects an individual to an employer, gets them into conversations, and then gets them into work and carries on supporting them in work. Crucially, they help the employers know how best to support people. Recently, I was talking to the head of this programme at one of the south coast councils. She said that lots of employers want to do the right thing but often they do not know how to —they may lack knowledge or be worried about how to have the necessary conversations. We have to tackle this on both fronts, but I am positive about it.