Autistic Adults: Employment

Anna Dixon Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Lisa Smart]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of getting the right education suited to each young person to enable them to flourish in their lives and contribute meaningfully to our community.

Clearly, the issues that my constituents have faced are not the same as every autistic person’s experience. When someone has met one autistic person, they have met one autistic person—that is a key point. All too often, autism is viewed in just one way, and it can be seen as a burden that employers have to overcome to employ that person, rather than as a range of differences and strengths.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

My niece successfully secured a place on a civil service internship. She was then able to go on and train as a work coach and is helping people who face similar challenges with neurodiversity or health conditions to get back into work. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is important that other employers set up these bespoke internship schemes, particularly to give opportunities to young people?

[Lisa Smart]

People with lived experience are often the best trainers and best able to explain a situation and enable employers to adapt to get the best out of their employees. I very strongly agree with the hon. Lady’s point.

I see it in my own area of Stockport, where the council delivers training for employers on how best to welcome neurodiverse employees into their workforce. That training is delivered by those with lived experience. Stockport council also provides adapted spaces at inclusive job fairs. That enables it to support attendance by those for whom busy, noisy spaces do not necessarily bring out the best in them.

As a Liberal, I want to ensure that people are viewed as individuals; that they are given a platform to be the best version of themselves; that we give our fellow citizens opportunities and not barriers; and that we ensure they are not limited by someone’s view of a category in which they happen to fit.

I thank my constituents who have shared their experiences with me and who have very different lives, needs and experiences, but who have faced very similar problems when entering the world of work. My constituent, Bradley from Marple, has had several voluntary jobs in the past. He has done them well and he now volunteers as a digital champion in the local library. Bradley is autistic and has a speech and language condition. He is capable, reliable and determined. I was really pleased that he and his mum came to see me at my advice surgery a few weeks ago, and that they are here today. He is now on universal credit, including the disability element, but tells me that what he wants is the independence and dignity that comes with having a paid job.

For Bradley, the problem he faces is getting over the hurdle of having a chance to prove his worth. He has applied for over 100 jobs. He has been given interviews and has passed tests, and yet is never given the job. All too often he tells me he hears the same refrain: “We have another candidate who we feel best suits the post.” Although that is said to anyone who applies for a job and they hear it from time to time, Bradley hears the same thing every time, after every interview and every successful test. That is what stings.

Another constituent has had two jobs with the same organisation. He has been diagnosed as high functioning with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He has a master’s degree and a range of awards and accolades that attest to his brilliance. He also struggles to know what day of the week it is or how to cook a pizza. He fits many of the stereotypes that people have about autism. In the first job, although he was given support to help him, it did not take account of the way he processed information. Instead, he was put on a performance improvement plan, which gave him no time to embed the enabling strategies that his mentor had helped him with. Instead of being supportive, it fed into his anxiety, and such was the stress it caused that he ended up with autistic burnout and on medication.

Fortunately, with support from his parents and some courses of cognitive behavioural therapy, he was able to start again. However, such was the lack of confidence in his own abilities that his first experience caused, he applied for a much less senior role. This time around, though, the experience was a world apart. He had a structured induction that gave him all the information he needed to settle into a new role. Similarly, when he starts a new project or task, he is introduced in a way that gives everyone the information they need to work well with him, such as sharing with any new colleagues how he prefers to receive information related to the task. He is now a valued high-performing member of staff ready to step back up the career ladder, and his mental health is in a completely different, far more positive place.

Those two wildly different experiences are with the same organisation, the civil service, which shows the need for best practice to be implemented much more consistently. My constituent is someone who has the potential to do things that few other people can, and when his job is built to get the best out of him, he flies. When it fails to take account of his needs, he crashes. I suggest that in a world where we hear all too frequently from some politicians demeaning descriptions of the lives that autistic people will have, we instead need to work on removing barriers that stop them living the right life for them.

A Stockport council officer working in this area reports interesting conversations with employers about the fact that adapting the business to be more inclusive is really, in his words,

“about looking at what skills a person can bring to the role and that isn’t as difficult as people first think. It’s about listening and understanding. It certainly doesn’t stop you being successful and profitable and it might actually help you!”

Two of my constituents faced challenges when starting and running their own businesses. Both of them set up their own companies—one supporting people with autism and ADHD and the other a small business selling games and toys. In both cases, their efforts to run their companies were undermined when they were in what we could term an irregular part of running a company. In the first case, it was going through the set-up of the company, which took longer than expected. In the second, it was when they missed an email they were not expecting from Companies House. In both cases, my constituents struggled with the sorts of activities that too often people and processes take for granted: making calls, sending emails and completing documents.

Katie, who joins us today, was allocated funding for a virtual assistant through Access to Work payments. But when her caseworker retired, her case was not reallocated and she was left facing mounting bills. To resolve it, she was forced to pursue her funding through a labyrinthine process. Were it not for her fantastic mum advocating on her behalf and further support from my superstar casework team, she would not have got it sorted out. As her mum said,

“The process to claim completely failed to recognise her disability. It was like asking someone in a wheelchair to get out and walk up the stairs.”

When someone has communication issues, layering inaccessible processes on top causes a struggle that is cruel. The irony is that Katie was caught out by this when she was setting up a company helping people with neurodivergent conditions. In a further twist, it was systems designed to help people like Katie into work that failed to take account of her autism.

Those are just four examples of people’s lived experience of trying to get into or on with work. Disabled people with autism are among the least likely to be in employment of all disabled people; 34% of disabled people with autism are in employment, compared with 55% of all disabled people and 82% of non-disabled people. The Buckland review of autism employment found that adjustments for autistic employees are highly variable, and that the onus is normally on the autistic employee to identify and advocate for the adjustments that they need. That is why the Liberal Democrats have campaigned for there to be obligations on employers and local authorities to provide appropriate care assessments and support. To repeat the words of Katie’s mum, not doing this is

“like asking someone in a wheelchair to get out and walk up the stairs.”

All too often we are building employment practices and processes that are one size fits all, but that size is too small. People are different, and we need to take account of that. It is only by recognising the differences between people, and by allowing for them and working with them, that we will get the future workforce that we need. I look forward to the Minister telling us what more the Government plan to do to make employment work for autistic people more easily, whether that is businesses employing autistic people, who can bring so much to a workplace, or changing processes so that autistic people can work in a way that suits them and gives them a platform to thrive.

Schemes such as Access to Work, Connect to Work or Disability Confident certainly exist, but my inbox suggests that too many people with skills and talents are falling through the gaps. I am particularly keen to hear when the Minister expects to publish a response to the recommendations made by the independent panel of academics led by Professor Amanda Kirby.

I really want to thank my constituents who have taken the time to share their experiences. Some of them are here today, and others are watching online. I hope that this place will change things for the better, so that we can do real justice for all the autistic people who just want the same opportunities as everyone else—to work, to live their best life and to thrive.

--- Later in debate ---

[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) for securing this important debate. Like many other Members, I have met many neurodivergent adults and their families in my constituency who are desperate to contribute to society and really do want to work but are still struggling to access the same opportunities as their neurotypical peers.

As other Members have said, it is heartbreaking to hold roundtables and hear of autistic individuals who, having volunteered for five years with some of our corporate chains and been told that it would build their experience, find that there was really no pathway to paid work. On the very day that their work experience finishes, after five years, they are told to go home. That leaves them with a real sense that they do not belong anywhere. They thought they were working and did not realise that, after five years, they would simply be told to go home. That is not equality. Our companies need to do much better and show a sense of responsibility.

Across the UK there are approximately 700,000 autistic adults of working age, yet only three in 10 are in employment. Only 15% are in full-time paid work. Just 35% of autistic graduates find work within the first 15 months, which is half the rate among non-disabled graduates. This is not just an autism issue; for people with learning disabilities, the picture is even starker. Of the 950,000 working-age adults with a learning disability, only 27% have a paid job.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that closing the disability gap—indeed, the specific employment gap for people with neurodiversity—will mean opening up opportunities in different ways, so that autistic people do not have to go through interviews and other barriers that a normal application process requires of neurotypical people?

[Shockat Adam]

I wholeheartedly agree. We have to think expansively and not follow the rigorous rules that we have for abled individuals.

Some 77% of unemployed autistic people say they want to work. They are not unwilling; what is unwilling is the system, which creates barriers at the crucial first step, the transition into work. Many of them have never had any work experience at all. We need a structured supported internship and greater flexibility. The minimum 420 hours required by the current Access to Work scheme is simply too rigid and too difficult for many people, and unrealistic for small employers—and employers, too, need support. The Keep Britain Working review identified a culture of fear among managers and staff, which discourages open conversations about disability.

Many people from autism and disability backgrounds find that a lack of visible role models affects their transition into work, and there is inconsistent guidance for employers trying to make reasonable adjustments. That is why I agree with Mencap, which is urging the Department for Work and Pensions to go further and create a central online hub of best practice for employers, provide training and peer-to-peer support for businesses, and ensure that autistic people themselves are consulted. Currently, two thirds say they have never even been asked what support they need.

We also have to look at the benefits system, because for many autistic people it remains an obstacle to work, not a bridge. People fear losing their safety net if they cannot meet their job recommendations and commitments due to a lack of reasonable adjustments. We need a system that rewards their effort rather than punishing their vulnerability.

Helping autistic people and people with learning disabilities into meaningful employment reduces welfare costs, raises living standards and unlocks enormous economic potential. It gives people purpose, dignity and belonging. There are great examples in my constituency of what can be done when we get things right. Leicestershire Cares is a fabulous organisation that assists people with autism and learning challenges into the workplace. Eyres Monsell Club for Young People gives young autistic adults real-world experiences in community pantries and food banks. Café Neuro, which is specifically but not exclusively for people from ethnic minorities, offers supported placements where participants learn teamwork, customer service and confidence. Millgate school is developing leadership and life skills through student-led committees, creating the role models of tomorrow. Finally, charities such as Jamila’s Legacy are showing how conditions like autism intersect with anxiety and mental health, reminding us that holistic pastoral support in schools is essential to preparing young people for employment.