The disability charity Scope UK has reported on the practical barriers which it says face disabled people trying to achieve employment equality.
The analysis also looks at the role workplace adjustments can play in overcoming the obstacles and it focuses on the actions the Government and employers must take to address these barriers.
To close the Disability Employment Gap, Scope is calling on the Government to:
- Establish a national disability employment strategy with clear outcomes and an ambition to halve the Disability Employment Gap.
- Reform Access to Work and ensure access to reasonable adjustments including flexible working.
- Overhaul Disability Confident and expand employers’ access to information about how to support disabled workers.
- Introduce Disability Pay Gap reporting and enforce employer accountability and transparency of their employment of disabled people.
Scope revealed that its new polling survey and analysis show that around a million disabled people in the UK want to work but are being denied the opportunity. It added that halving the Disability Employment Gap could increase the economy by £17 billion each year.
In addition a survey of 1,000 disabled adults, carried out by Opinium on behalf of Scope and weighted to be nationally representative, found that in the last 10 years 28% of disabled workers or jobseekers have had adjustment requests rejected or agreed adjustments not put in place. The figure rises to 45% for 18 to 34-year-olds
The survey also found that over two fifths (43%) of disabled adults who have looked for a job in the last 10 years feel their condition or impairment may have played a role in them being turned down for a job or not progressing through the recruitment process.
Among disabled adults who have worked in the past 10 years, many report experiencing negative impacts because their employer did not adequately support their needs.
Scope said the barriers are not caused by disabled people themselves but by workplaces, support systems and wider policy choices.
It said: “Work without barriers is possible. Halving the Disability Employment Gap requires investment, strategic oversight and coordinated action from the Government and employers. If structural barriers are addressed, the Disability Employment Gap will finally begin to reduce.”