Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Reasonable adjustmentsEquality, diversity and inclusionDisabilityLatest News

Government hails increase in disabled people in work

by Adam McCulloch 15 Apr 2019
by Adam McCulloch 15 Apr 2019

There are 930,000 more disabled people in work today than in 2013, according to new Department for Work and Pensions figures, an increase of an average of 500 more people per day.

The employment rate for people with disabilities increased by 7.4% over the period – from 44% to 51% – compared with 3.8% for people who are not disabled. Almost 82% of non-disabled people are in work.

Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd welcomed the rise and said: “Disabled people are now more likely to be in employment than workless, but we must and will go further to ensure everyone who wants to work can work.”

Disability

NAO highly critical of government strategy to get more disabled people into work

Adjustment grants for workers with disabilities to increase

Projects that help workers self-manage health conditions win funding

“It’s a huge pool of talent – 7.6 million working age people in the UK have a disability. The truth is that if you’re not recruiting disabled talent then your competitors probably are.

“Disabled people deserve the opportunity to enjoy a fulfilling career. Business and government must take steps together to ensure no one misses out.”

A spokesperson for the department said that from this month disabled people could receive nearly £60,000 a year through Access to Work to help pay for workplace adjustments. This was an increase of 40% in just two years.

The government was keen to take its share of the credit for the figures and hailed the impact of the Disability Confident scheme in creating more job opportunities for disabled people. It stated that more than 11,000 businesses across the country had signed up for the programme, which gives employers expert advice about how to recruit more disabled people.

However, only two weeks ago, the National Audit Office was highly critical of the government’s target of getting one million more disabled people into work by 2027, saying it was unlikely to be a useful measure.

The NAO warned: “Despite the Department’s decades of experience supporting disabled people it does not yet know as much as it could about what works in helping disabled people to get and keep jobs.

“It has also missed opportunities over the years to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of its programmes, leaving it with limited evidence to support its current efforts.”

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, added: “Given the government has been supporting disabled people to work for a long time, it is not beyond reason to expect the DWP to know what works by now and it is disappointing that it does not.

“It has yet to make a significant dent in the number of disabled people who are out of work, some of whom say they would like to work given the right support.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

A person is counted as disabled if they have a health condition lasting or expected to last a year or more that limits their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

D&I opportunities currently on PT Jobs

More D&I jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
City firm IFM settles sexual harassment case
next post
Majority of absence and presenteeism could be addressed by ‘targeted’ employer support

1 comment

Ray morris 16 Apr 2019 - 1:37 pm

I suppose percentage wise the number of disabled people in work has increased ….when offset by the numbers of deaths in the disabled population due to this government’s persistent and relentless persecution of them in recent years.

Comments are closed.

You may also like

Fire and rehire: the relocation question

22 May 2025

Public sector workers gain pay rises of up...

22 May 2025

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

UK universities fret over fall in international students

22 May 2025

HSBC employees warned of office attendance link to...

22 May 2025

The Law Society: Navigating the new world of...

22 May 2025

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+