UK Disability Employment: The Complete Landscape
The UK Disability Employment Gap
The UK disability employment gap — the difference between employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people — has been stubbornly persistent:
| Year | Non-disabled employment | Disabled employment | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 76.4% | 45.6% | 30.8pp |
| 2018 | 80.7% | 51.7% | 29.0pp |
| 2023 | 82.5% | 53.7% | 28.8pp |
Despite government targets and multiple programmes, the gap has narrowed by only 2 percentage points in a decade. At this rate, parity would take over 140 years.
Key statistics (ONS, 2023):
- 4.4 million disabled people are in employment
- 2.3 million disabled people are economically inactive (want to work but face barriers)
- Disabled workers earn on average 12.2% less than non-disabled workers (the disability pay gap)
- Disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people