There is a growing gap between London boroughs in employment rates for people who have a disability, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows.
In 2023, Brent had the lowest employment rate with less than a third of working age disabled people in work whereas Wandsworth topped the boroughs with a rate of four in five.
It is currently Disability History Month and this year’s theme is livelihood and employment – long fraught issues in the disability rights movement.
Lacking access to employment is seen as preventing some disabled people from being able to participate fully in society.
Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, author and activist Tom Shakespeare said: “There is a misapprehension that disabled people would not be good workers, whereas the evidence is that they are loyal and hard working.
“There is a misapprehension that reasonable accommodation is very costly, whereas the evidence is that average costs are low and easily met.
“There is a concern that it will be difficult or costly to make disabled people redundant, if required.”
There were nine boroughs with employment rates for people with disabilities below half, almost all in north London.
Some with rates above 70% were Wandsworth, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond and Hackney.
Chief Executive of learning disability charity Mencap, Jon Sparkes said: “Mencap research found that 86% of people with a learning disability want a job, but the support simply isn’t there for them.
“We will work with the Government to help them tackle the barriers holding disabled people back from employment.
“But the devil will be in the detail and any new programme must be person centred and recognise and reflect the varying needs of people with a learning disability.”
Focusing on the boroughs of Brent and Wandsworth, the data shows their employment rates were no more than 11 percentage points apart between 2014 and 2022.
In 2016 the employment rate for Wandsworth below that of Brent but, in 2023 the employment rates had diverged with the rate for Wandsworth close to 50 above Brent.
On the issue of the disparity between boroughs, Shakespeare speculated on the intersection between disability and class.
He expected the rise in employment rates in Wandsworth could be linked to increased opportunity to work from home.
He said he spoke as a self-described ‘white collar worker’ explaining how remote working could help people with disabilities access employment.
He suggested that Brent, a borough with higher poverty levels, could have less knowledge economy jobs and so disabled people there would not have benefited from the measure.
Shakespeare explained that sometimes brands, especially in the service sector can be reluctant to hire people with disabilities and thought this could have had an impact on the employment rates.
A Brent Council spokesperson said: “Disabled people face far too many barriers in the workplace, and we’re on a mission to change that.
“Our Employment and Skills team take a holistic approach to the barriers facing disabled people in the workplace, but we will re-examine our offer to residents following the publication of this data.
“Brent Council is proud to be a Disability Confident employer and is currently working with 40 local businesses to become Disability Confident employers.
“We are also working in partnership with Beam, a social enterprise, to offer disabled residents tailored support to find good, well-paid employment.”
Shakespeare said: “We already have anti-discrimination legislation in the form of the Equality Act 2005, I am not sure we require more laws.
“We do want to see existing laws implemented and upheld.
“I would like to see a range of options from commercial and independent sector for disabled people, particularly people with intellectual disabilities.
“I find supported employment more inclusive and positive than sheltered employment.
“Social firms, which have social objectives as well as financial objectives, have potential, particularly for people with intellectual disabilities.”
Founder of The Public Speaking Course and interview coach, John Deery added: “I have worked with quite a few people with disabilities.
“It’s a double bind for some people as lots of people are scared of speaking in public and this stress is doubled when someone has an emotional, physical, or speech impediment.”
He told a story of a man he tutored who had a speech impediment and struggled to find work.
Feeling nervous in interviews the man stuttered and sometimes got stuck on certain words.
His impediment did not impact his communication significantly when he was with people he knew well but, with strangers he ran into issues.
After, working with John and practicing speaking in front of strangers the man gained confidence and, although, he did not get the first job he had applied to, he secured the second.
There have been concerns raised with the increased use of AI hiring tools which have been found to have inbuilt biases against people with disabilities.
For example, time limits on video interview questions can impact people with stammers as a stammer could take up time preventing them from being able to answer in full.
AI sometimes uses eye contact to measure candidates’ confidence in interviews and if a person has a facial affect or sight loss this could mean they lose out.
The ONS data was released on the day of the budget.
Campaigners, including Disability Rights UK raised issues with the budget saying that it risks the financial security of disabled people with the introduction of the Personal Independence Payment assessment which they see as ‘deeply flawed’.
Shakespeare said: “Work is good for most people.
“Most people make many friends through their work, and if disabled people are excluded from work, they would be most isolated.
“As a consequence, disabled people have to depend on benefits, and end up poorer.”
Featured image credit: charlesdeluvio via unsplash
Join the discussion