Disability, skills and work: Raising our ambitions

Disabled people represent one fifth of the working age population, but are far more likely to be out of work and to lack skills than the population as a whole. Improving skills and employment for disabled people matters not just for equality, but also for national prosperity and delivering world leading skills and employment. Indeed, these are interlinked challenges: skills are increasingly key to improving employment. This paper finds that the case for action to improve the skills of disabled people is clear and pressing. Improving the employment rate of disabled people to the national average would boost the UK economy by £13 billion, equivalent to six months economic growth. Improving the skills of disabled people to world leading levels by 2020 would give a boost equivalent to 18 extra months of growth over 30 years, some £35 billion.