Fairer Scotland for disabled people - employment action plan: progress report - year 2

2. Introduction

When we published the Action Plan in 2018, we also committed to publish annual updates reporting on progress. This, the second progress report, sets out the main activity over the past year under the Action Plan's three key themes: Supporting employers to recruit and retain disabled people; Supporting disabled people to enter employment; and Young people and transitions. Case studies are also included, to bring to life the impact of the action being taken. This report forms part of a suite of Labour Market Action Plans developed by the Scottish Government to help focus policies and resources on achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, and a wellbeing economy. This also includes the: Fair Work Action Plan

Source: ONS Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec 2016-2019

Annual Report (2021) and A Fairer Scotland for Women: Gender Pay Gap Action Plan Annual Report (2021).

The original commitment to at least halve the disability employment gap in Scotland was announced in 2016^[2], making that year our baseline year. In this report we refer to January – December 2019 data from the Annual Population Survey, which is the latest and most robust data that can be compared with our baseline, although we recognise it does not reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The figure below shows the progress that has been achieved in reducing the disability employment gap across this period.