July marks Disability Pride Month, a time for us to celebrate and spotlight the achievements, experiences and contributions of disabled people and raising awareness of the continuing importance of accessibility, inclusion and equality, not just in the workplace, but the wider community too.

Disability Pride Month encourages us to recognise that disability is a natural part of human diversity, whilst also recognising that not all disabilities are visible. In the UK, around 1 in 5 people have a disability, and an estimated 80% of those disabilities are non-visible. This means many colleagues, clients and visitors may be living with conditions that aren’t immediately apparent, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, chronic pain, diabetes, epilepsy, hearing loss, mental health conditions, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and many others.

In light of Disability Pride Month, our Employment team explore the employment support available for disabled people, how inequality in the workplace is being tackled and steps employers should take to foster inclusive, equal and accessible working environments.

Disability is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, meaning that disabled people are afforded protections from discrimination and that employers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments. Despite these protections, disabled people are still facing significant challenges in participating equally in the workplace. A recent report published by the Department for Work and Pensions soberingly reports that in 2025 the disability employment rate was 52.8%, compared to 82.5% for non-disabled people. In response, the latest Work and Pensions Committee report, on employment support for disabled people, puts employer practice firmly in the spotlight, the full report can be read here. We explore some of the key findings and recommendations made by the report below:

Reasonable adjustments

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people in order to remove any “substantial disadvantage” they might face at work, and an employer discriminates against a disabled person if they fail to comply with that duty. The further strengthen the duty, Committee recommends that the government require employers to:

• respond to requests for reasonable adjustments within two weeks and, if a request is refused, to explain in writing the grounds for refusal; and
• provide all new employees, whether they know them to be disabled or not, with information about the rights of disabled people at work, and of sources of support and advocacy.

Flexible working

The reasonable adjustment many disabled people value the most is flexible working, an integral part to a disabled person’s ability to find or stay in work. This may include changes to work hours, remote or hybrid working options and adjusted shift patterns

However, evidence suggests that disabled people, though more reliant on flexible working, tend to have less access to it than non-disabled employees. The report considered that one type of flexible working which would have the potential to significantly increase disability employment is remote working.

Section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996 also offers further protection to disabled employees by enshrining the legal right to make a formal flexible working request. After an employee has made such a request, the employer must consult with the employee and consider the request. An employer can only refuse such a request for a valid business reason and should issue a final decision, including any appeal, within a maximum of 2 months (or longer if agreed with the employee). 

Similarly, the ability to take time off for disability-related medical appointments will often amount to a reasonable adjustment, however, there is currently also no expectation that people be given paid time off to attend disability related medical appointments. The report has recommended that the government to introduce a statutory right to paid time off for disabled people to attend disability-related medical appointments, or other appointments necessary to manage their disability – a recommendation which is backed by Diabetes UK and the Work Foundation.

Inaccessible workplaces

The report highlights that too many workplaces were inaccessible by default, leaving people unnecessarily reliant on reasonable adjustments. Key areas of inaccessibility highlighted by the report include:

• The physical environment
• Attitude of co-workers
• Absence management; and
• Access to assistive technology

To combat day-to-day workplace inaccessibility, the Work and Pensions Committee recommends that there should be greater employer access to disability inclusion training through the Healthy Working Lifecycle and Workplace Health Provision programmes, whilst encouraging the government to conduct further research into the impact of flexible and remote working on productivity, to strengthen the evidence base for accessibility-related policies.

It is clear that there must be an emphasis on shifting the focus from reactive individual adjustments to proactive workplace accessibility, with Government initiatives explicitly encouraging employers to adopt accessible workplace practices, flexible working arrangements and inclusive recruitment processes.

We are always on hand to assist with any workplace queries to make your disability practices and policies accommodating and inclusive. Please feel free to reach out to us at employment@berrysmith.com if we can be of assistance with policy and handbook reviews as well as helping you navigate flexible working requests.

Please note the contents of this article do not constitute legal advice.