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WEC launches inquiry on flexible working and disability

MPs on the cross-party committee will look at how flexible working policies, laws and guidance affect disabled workers and jobseekers.

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WEC launches inquiry on flexible working and disability
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The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has launched a new inquiry into flexible working for disabled people. 

MPs on the cross-party committee, chaired by Labour MP Sarah Owen, will look at how flexible working policies, laws and guidance affect disabled workers and jobseekers.

WEC will examine why the shift towards flexible working since the Covid-19 pandemic has not improved the employment rate of disabled people or reduced the disability employment gap. 

The latest official statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions found that the employment rate for working age disabled people in the second quarter of 2025 was 52.8%, compared to 82.5% among non-disabled people.

The inquiry will look at how disabled people with different types of disability or impairment experience flexible working, as well as those with other protected characteristics. 

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It will also consider flexible working across different sectors and its impact on recruitment, retention and progression for disabled workers.

Sarah Owen, chair of the WEC, said: “Flexible working has become far more mainstream in the UK’s working culture since the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“This shift should have been an opportunity to tackle discrimination against disabled workers and jobseekers.

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“Yet the gap between employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people remains stubbornly high.”

Owen added: “The Committee’s timely new inquiry will examine the reasons for this, looking across sectors to assess whether there are further legislative or policy steps the Government could take to increase disabled people’s access to flexible working.

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“WEC’s inquiry will analyse the impacts on disabled workers of employers’ ‘back to the office’ mandates and identify best practice examples of access to flexible working for disabled workers.

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“Through this call for evidence and forthcoming parliamentary sessions the Committee will examine the likely effectiveness of the flexible working provisions in the Employment Rights Act 2025 for disabled workers and jobseekers.”

She added: “It will also assess the clarity of the law, and people’s awareness and understanding of it, around employers’ Equality Act reasonable adjustment duties in relation to flexible working, making recommendations for change where needed.”

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