London’s disabled employment rate is improving but discrepancies remain within the capital

Disabled employment rates in London have risen significantly since 2004 according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.

The overall employment rate for disabled people was 59.3% in 2024 compared to 80.2% for those who are not disabled, indicating there is still a significant employment gap to be closed.  

This gap was the largest in North London, where the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hillingdon reported an employment gap of more than 40% in 2024.

However, disabled people report facing ongoing challenges despite the wider picture of improvement.

Disabled content creator, author and campaigner Zara Beth has a range of physical disabilities including Tourette’s Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder.   

Being self employed is the only practical way she can accommodate the unpredictability of her conditions, although it comes with its own challenges.

Zara said: “I’ve known that I can’t do a job, so I’ve not even gotten up to the point of applying.

“I can’t sign up for a shift and promise to be there from nine till five because I might wake up on the day and not be able to move.

“Disabled people often want to do the job, you want to contribute and earn a living, but you can’t always do it.

“Even with self-employment, the work life balance is non-existent sometimes, which results in burnout and then doesn’t help my health.”

There are also concerns that the rising disabled population in London following the pandemic, as for the first time since records began, more than one in five Londoners identified as disabled in 2024. 

The graph above shows how the employment gap in London has reduced significantly over the last 20 years, but remains at about 20%, suggesting disabled people still face significant employment barriers. 

Zara highlighted that being able to work as a disabled person is about more than having the physical capacity to get through the day.

While she was able to get through school and complete A-Levels, for example, when she got home from school she would immediately crash out, severely limiting her quality of life. 

She explained that balancing a job with a disability “needs to be liveable, not just existing” for the person.

There does seem to have been some progress in London in recognising the concerns Zara and other campaigners have, as the disabled employment gap has reduced significantly.  

However, it is notable the employment gap is greater across North London boroughs, compared to south of the river, as illustrated in the map below.

Comparing the boroughs with the lowest employment reveals that those in the North East have most frequently recorded the lowest rates of disabled employment in the last 20 years.

Newham featured in the bottom five boroughs for disabled employment almost three-quarters of the time, with 14 appearances in the last 20 years.

It is closely followed by Tower Hamlets at 13 times and Barking and Dagenham at nine times.   

Importantly, these areas also all recorded lower employment of non-disabled people than the London average in 2024, reflecting general employment challenges in the area. 

Sir Stephen Timms is the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability and MP for East Ham, which encompasses the borough of Newham. 

He explained that the docks closures in the 1970s and 80s and subsequent closure of the factories in the area resulted in high unemployment which the area has been tackling ever since. 

Having been an MP for the past 31 years, Timms reflected that the wider picture for disabled employment has improved significantly across the UK.

He said: “My sense is that the prospects now are much, much brighter.”

He mentioned the successful adoption of reasonable adjustments following the 2010 Equalities Act and the development of the Access to Work scheme which provides grants to pay for adjustments like a British Sign Language interpreter.

However, Timms admitted that government systems are facing significant challenges in recent years due to high demand.

For example there has been a ‘huge surge in applications’ for Access to Work, creating a backlog of over 62,000 applications. 

Timms also highlighted that there are 2.8 million people currently out of work due to long term sickness or disability, many of whom claim benefits. 

These benefits include the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which the government failed to reform over the summer. Sir Stephen is currently leading a review on this called the Timm’s review. 

The government has pledged to invest £1 billion in supporting disabled employment by the end of the parliament (2029) as part of their Get Britain Working White Paper.  

But simultaneously they are making cuts to disability related benefits.

For example, the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) benefit – designed for those who cannot currently work or prepare to work – will almost halve by 2026 for new claimants. 

Timms is in favour of reviewing the benefits system, with a view that many disabled people want to get off benefits and into work. 

He says in his experience a small number of people are interested in exploiting the system by trying to get onto this higher level of benefit and avoid having to work. 

He added: “We’ve forced people to aspire to get this higher classification and this incentivises inactivity.”

However, approaches that involve cutting benefits have been met with criticism from disability charities. 

Kieran Aldred, Policy Manager at Scope, said: “Cutting benefits pushes disabled people into poverty, not into jobs.”

In his view the key focus should be breaking down barriers to disabled employment as there are one million disabled people who want to work but are denied the opportunity due to inaccessibility according to Scope analysis of the UK’s Labour Force Survey.

Scope runs a Support to Work scheme to help disabled people with interviews, finding work and provides group training sessions.

Looking at London specifically, the picture is better, with the disabled employment gap sitting at 21% compared to 25% across the wider UK.

Aldred thinks this can mainly be explained by the larger scale of employers in London, with bigger companies typically more able to cover the costs of reasonable adjustments.

But more challenges are likely to follow in the capital. Since the pandemic the disabled population has risen sharply, with 21% of Londoners identifying as disabled in 2024.

Before the pandemic the proportion of disabled people in London was on average 16.2% between 2004-2020, but this rose to 19.5% from 2021-2024. 

Additionally, Aldred said that employers often have misconceptions about the capabilities of disabled people and this can create a fear culture around asking for help.

He explained: “Fear of those negative attitudes can lead to disabled people not wanting to disclose their disabilities if they’re not visually apparent, and that can often prevent individuals from actually asking for the requirements they need, which can sometimes escalate problems.” 

This view was echoed by Stuart Edwards, who worked as an Employment Support Worker in Lancashire and Cambridgeshire councils, and now manages a community cafe employing adults with learning disabilities. 

He said: “Disabled employees may face stigma, be underestimated, or have to work harder to prove their capabilities, which can be exhausting.” 

Edwards says that councils play a ‘pivotal’ role in encouraging workers to adopt flexible working practices which often make work much more accessible for disabled people. 

He has helped guide employers on how to meet their legal obligations – like reasonable adjustments – advised on fairer recruitment practices and supported disabled people through Access to Work applications.

However, Edwards is concerned that a lack of education and support is damaging the employment of disabled people. 

He said that, on the one hand, some employers remain unaware of their obligations to disabled people. On the other hand, some disabled people fear seeking work out of concern that they will lose their benefits, ‘often underpinned by a lack of trust in support services.’ 

Like Timms, he concluded: “Reviewing and reforming the benefits system is essential to eliminate the so-called benefit traps that discourage disabled people from seeking work.”   

Notes on the data: please note that employment statistics do not capture the full picture of joblessness as some people are deliberately unemployed, for example while they are in education. This data only covers the typical working age population of age 16-64. Data from 2013 is missing due to changes in the way disability was recorded. You can find the full dataset here.

Featured image credit: Lauren Wyatt