Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of trends in the level of the disability employment gap; and what steps he will take to reduce that gap.

Latest figures from the Labour Force Survey show the disability employment gap was 29.8 percentage points (ppts) in Q3 2022, an increase of 1.7ppts on the year and an overall decrease of 4.4ppts since the same quarter in 2013.

The trend in the disability employment gap was strong up to the pre-pandemic period, reflecting a healthy labour market in general and even greater progress in disability employment, which resulted in a consistent narrowing of the gap.

It is difficult to isolate the direct impact of policies on the disability employment gap as numerous elements are at play and interacting, including overall labour market trends and changes to the composition of the disabled population, in addition to the effects of disability employment policies and programmes in themselves. However, policy will have played an important role with positive employment outcomes reported across many programmes, such as Employment Advisers in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and the Work and Health Programme.

The trend in the disability employment gap since the pandemic had been largely flat, but the latest quarterly stats show a widening which we will continue to monitor closely, ensuring our policy efforts match our continued commitment to closing the DEG.

To close the disability employment gap, a range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:

• Increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment Support Allowance;
• Support in partnership between DWP and the health system, including Employment Advice in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions;
• Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;
• The Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants;
• Access to Work grants towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;

• Disability Confident encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues employees face in the workplace;
• The Information and Advice Service providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting and managing health and disability in the workplace.

Source: A08: Labour market status of disabled people - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)