Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to help ensure that people with disabilities are treated fairly in employment application processes.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (the 2010 Act) it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against disabled employees and applicants. Specifically, employers are required to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the disabled employee’s job or during the recruitment process, which ensure that disabled employees are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their non-disabled colleagues. Failure to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee or job seeker, or discounting a job application simply because the applicant is disabled, could amount to direct disability discrimination under the 2010 Act.

The EHRC has published guidance for employers on supporting employees with reasonable adjustments: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/supporting-disabled-workers-hybrid-working-guidance-employers and https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/business/employing-people-workplace-adjustments.

The Government also supports a range of initiatives to improve disability inclusion at work.

This includes the Access to Work Scheme (AtW), a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant which supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in employment. AtW provides grant funding to disabled people, as well as those with a health condition and supports workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the 2010 Act.

In addition, to retain disabled employees, the Disability Confident scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work.

The June 2026 update to the Keep Britain Working review has reported that over 250 employers, providers and other organisations are working together, with better disability employment participation as one of the Review’s central objectives. Work is under way with Vanguard organisations and academic partners to improve measurement of disability participation, creating the outcome-focused foundations for more inclusive practices across UK employers.

We are also changing legislation through the Employment Rights Act 2025 to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted by introducing a reasonableness test. These changes will take effect in 2027.

We continue to monitor and support legislation to help ensure that people with disabilities are treated fairly in employment application processes and in the workplace.