Marvin OnumonuThe Government will struggle to meet its 80% employment target unless firms hired and kept more disabled workers, Resolution Foundation has warned.
The ‘Opening Doors’ report showed the employment rate for disabled people rose from 44% to 54% between 2014 and 2025.
But with more people of working age now disabled, the gap between disabled and non-disabled workers actually grew.
The prevalence-adjusted disability employment gap increased from 5.4% in 2013 to 6.8% in 2023.
With disability rates set to rise as the UK population ages, the report said getting more disabled people into work was key to hitting employment targets.
Halving the disability employment gap would take the Government more than halfway to the 80% target.
Most policies focused on welfare changes to encourage disabled people to work, but the report said employer action was just as important.
The foundation recommended practical steps to improve recruitment, reimbursement, and reintegration for disabled workers.
The foundation said return-to-work incentives could help, with subsidies for employers who hire disabled people after six months out of work, or a levy similar to the apprenticeship levy.
The cost of the Access to Work scheme, which reimburses employers for adjustments, rose by four-fifths over 10 years.
The report said cuts would be a mistake and called for clearer information and a better experience for employers and workers.
The foundation said reintegration had the most potential to change disabled employment. It said that, just as mothers now have the right to return to work after leave, people who stop work due to sickness should have a right to reintegration.
At present, employers could let disabled employees go too easily after periods of incapacity, making it harder for them to find jobs again.
The report called for a new right to reintegration for workers on sick leave.
Employers would have to prove they tried to reintegrate staff before dismissing them.
The report added that if the UK matched the Netherlands’ success with similar measures, new incapacity benefit claims could fall by two-thirds.
Ben Baumberg Geiger, research associate at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The Government has, rightly, set an ambitious target of 80 per cent employment.
“But it will fail to get anywhere close to this unless it tackles the huge employment gap faced by disabled people.
“While some metrics – that don’t account for the increased incidence of disability – seem to show a decreased employment gap for disabled people, prevalence-adjusted measures show that disabled people’s labour market inclusion has in fact been getting worse in recent years.”
He added: “Supporting this group into work will be a vital part of getting Britain working. Halving the disability employment gap would take the Government more than halfway towards meeting its 80 per cent employment rate target.”
Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Much of the debate around supporting disabled people into work has centred on reforming benefits to incentivise employment.
“But while important, this has neglected an even more central issue – the role of employers in helping more disabled workers to join, remain and thrive in the workplace.
“The Government should do more to incentivise firms to employ disabled people, especially those who have been out of work for long periods.”
Murphy added: “But employers need to do more in return.
“A new Right to Reintegration could help disabled workers back into work in the same way that maternity rights transformed women’s employment prospects a generation ago.”
