Government is misrepresenting workplace disability inequality, MPs are told

A disabled people’s organisation has accused the government of misrepresenting the high levels of inequality faced by disabled people in the workplace.

In its submission to an inquiry by a Commons committee, Disability Rights UK (DR UK) pointed to research which undermined government claims to have supported more than one million disabled people into work since 2017.

The government has repeatedly been told that the figures it quotes are “meaningless” when it comes to the inequality disabled people face in the jobs market, with evidence suggesting that years of government employment policies have had little or no impact on reducing the employment discrimination disabled people face.

In its response to the Commons work and pensions committee’s inquiry into disability employment, DR UK said the government’s statistic “is a misrepresentation of employment inequality and doesn’t recognise the reality that Disabled people currently face”.

It also pointed out that the disability employment gap has remained “stubbornly at just under 30 per cent since 2019”.

DR UK told the committee that the government needed to change its approach to social security “from punitive to supportive”.

It pointed out that – only last month – the UN’s committee on the rights of disabled people accused the UK government of demonising disabled people and treating them as “undeserving citizens” by preparing to fund tax cuts by slashing disability benefits, and said the social security system and rhetoric from ministers “devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity”.

DR UK said the government needed to address the disability employment gap by tackling systemic barriers, rather than forcing disabled people into “unsafe, unsustainable, and exploitative work”.

Among those actions, DR UK said, it should hold employers accountable for breaching the Equality Act, telling the committee: “One of the most impactful barriers to Disabled people staying in work is employers refusing to implement the reasonable adjustments required to make their workplace accessible.”

DR UK said in its response to the inquiry that enforcement of those duties was vital, saying: “It is essential that Disabled people can rely on the Equality Act being enforced, otherwise in practice it gives us no protection.”

It also called on the government to ensure that local authorities are adequately funded to meet their legal obligations to support disabled children and young people, and it said the government should address the “lack of support and mismanagement of the transition from education to employment” for young disabled people.

It also branded the government’s much-criticised Disability Confident employment scheme “unworkable” and in need of a “complete overhaul”, while highlighting the lengthy waits for disabled people seeking support through the Access to Work scheme.

DR UK also called in its response for the government to co-produce its employment support policies with disabled people and their organisations.

And it warned that the government’s plans to reform the work capability assessment would “widen” the disability employment gap.

It pointed out that the Office for Budget Responsibility reported (PDF) in November 2023 that proposals to tighten eligibility to the WCA would only lead to 10,000 more disabled people in work but would cut benefits for 370,000 disabled people.

DR UK also highlighted government plans to scrap the WCA entirely after the next election.

Under the plans, disabled people who cannot work will only be able to qualify for a new health element of universal credit if they also receive personal independence payment, disability living allowance, or, in Scotland, adult disability payment.

This would mean it would be left to DWP’s over-worked work coaches – who would usually have no health-related qualifications – to decide if a disabled person should carry out work-related activity.

DR UK said it was “extremely concerned” by these plans, which will “likely result in incorrect work conditionality commitments and the use of sanctions in decision making and will reduce accountability, certainty, and the ability of the claimant to challenge”.

It called for these reforms to be scrapped.

DR UK added: “The easiest and most constructive way to help more people into work is to ensure the workplace is inclusive.

“The growing number of people who are out of work because of ill health is a reflection of demographic changes and discrimination in the workplace.

“The focus needs to be on improving the workplace, not on pushing people into poverty.”

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