Government consultation on disability workforce reporting

The Disability Unit in the Cabinet Office is consulting on workforce reporting on disability for large employers (250+ employees).

The consultation explores voluntary and mandatory disability workplace reporting in order for the Government to better understand how different approaches to reporting might support the goals of increasing inclusive working environments and address the disability employment gap.

Over 7.7 million people of working age in the UK are disabled or have a health condition. Historically there has been a significant gap between the proportion of disabled people employed compared with non-disabled people – the gap currently stands at 28.4pp.

Additonally, disabled workers move out of work at nearly twice the rate of non-disabled workers and workless disabled people move into work at nearly one-third of the rate of workless non-disabled people. This gap remains consistent despite evidence suggesting significant benefits to businesses that employ disabled people, the Cabinet Office says.

The consultation is open until 25 March and more information is available at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/disability-workforce-reporting. Or you can respond directly to the consultation here.

The Disability Unit is hosting two virtual roundtable events on 21 and 22 March to hear people's experiences of disability workforce reporting. If you would like to know more about these please email [email protected]