Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support more people with disabilities to (a) enter and (b) remain in the workplace; and what plans she has to improve access to (i) employment opportunities and (ii) workplace adjustments.

Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell.

It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025. Additionally, the JWHD has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health. Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.

As announced in the Green Paper, we are investing £1 billion a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support – one of the biggest packages of new employment support for sick and disabled people ever - including new tailored support conversations for people on health and disability benefits, and more intensive programmes of support with health and work to break down barriers and unlock work.

In addition, consulting on the future of the Access to Work scheme so that it better helps people to start and stay in work through reasonable adjustments, such as aids, appliances and making use of assistive technology

The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) provides a legal framework to protect disabled people against unlawful direct or indirect discrimination in employment by placing a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to any element of a job, job application or interview process, which may place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. The failure of an employer 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 Act.