Julie Dennis, Acas Head of Inclusive Workplaces Policy
Julie is a diversity and inclusion specialist with 20 years' experience in the public and voluntary sector. At Acas she's responsible for leading and providing expert advice to build an inclusive culture.
Last week I took part in a Business Disability Forum event. We talked about the Employment Rights Act 2025 and its impact on recruitment and experiences at work.
While the event focused on what is new in government policy in relation to disability – it was also about people. How do we make great places to work where everybody has the chance to shine?
The challenge
First, we looked at the challenge. The government's ambition is to have an 80% employment rate (currently 75%). However, the employment rate for disabled people is between 28 to 30%. The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Family Resources Survey estimates 16.8 million people (25% of the population) have a disability. That makes it a steep hill to climb.
Angela Matthews, Director of Public Policy and Research at the Business Disability Forum pointed out where the focus must be. That is on enabling those people who can and want to work, but face barriers that prevent them from doing so.
The Acas Helpline regularly hears about employers who fail to remove those barriers, which often are simple adjustments in the workplace. I hear from employers all the time that it is not that they do not want to make the changes to keep skilled workers – they are just uncertain how to go about it.
Seeking solutions: Access to Work and Disability Confident
Angela highlighted that while Access to Work support is available to help make those changes, sometimes only larger employers know about it. They can also afford to make the changes at scale. We need to do more to make small and medium-sided enterprises (SMEs) aware of the support available.
Keith Roberts, Deputy Director, Disability and Work Opportunities Division, Department for Work and Pensions pointed out alternative support available. The Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan aims to establish a nationally recognised, inclusive, and accountable framework. The framework enables employers to confidently recruit, retain, and support disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.
The renewed scheme will introduce:
- clear standards
- greater transparency
- expectations for continuous improvement
This ensures that each level of membership reflects meaningful action, rather than compliance alone. By embedding collaboration, accountability, and lived experience at the heart of delivery. The scheme will drive cultural change, reduce barriers, and champion equity across organisations.
Attendees agreed that these reforms should allow Disability Confident to move beyond awareness raising. Becoming a practical, measurable, and trusted marker for inclusive employment, supporting employers to make lasting change and improving outcomes for disabled people.
Looking to the future
The equality, diversity and inclusion landscape is undergoing one of the most significant shifts in over a decade. Driven by new legislation, renewed scrutiny, and a stronger expectation of accountability, 2026 will be a defining year for employers seeking to build fair, safe and inclusive workplaces.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 provides the strongest package of equality‑related employment reforms in a generation. It introduces wide‑ranging reforms that reshape:
- employer duties
- workplace protections
- equality obligations
Many of its provisions directly affect groups historically disadvantaged in the labour market, such as:
- women
- carers
- disabled people
- ethnic minorities
- low‑paid workers
- those in insecure work
All of this lends itself to the government's wider agenda to Make Work Pay.
The Keep Britain Working Review calls for a fundamental shift in health at work. It's moving from an individual and NHS-led model to shared responsibility between employers, workers, and the health service. Employers should focus on prevention and early intervention, while the NHS prioritises diagnosis and treatment.
The review proposes a long-term reform programme to embed health at work as a societal priority, emphasising a healthy working lifecycle and improved support for disabled people. Again, employers have a core role. They need better systems to communicate with employees throughout the whole employer life cycle.
In my experience, investing in line managers to ensure they can lead a diverse team is critical. Our research constantly highlights a lack of skills and confidence amongst line managers to have everyday conversations around inclusion.
This is not about becoming an expert in what makes a reasonable adjustment under equality legislation. This is about knowing your teams, knowing if they are struggling, and understanding what adjustments you can put in place to enable them to perform to their best.
We are also aware that the world of work is changing. The new Acas strategy has 3 simple ambitions: to Prevent, Manage and Resolve conflict at work. It also sets out our commitment to improving access to those groups who are under-served, advocate for what works best, and embed inclusion as an integral element to good conflict management.
To me, when we focus on disability equality in workplaces it's simple. It's about creating truly inclusive organisations, where disabled people feel welcome and happy no matter who they are. Making sure they all have a fair chance to shine.