Outcomes for disabled people in the UK: 2021

The ONS have released their third annual series exploring how aspects of life for disabled people in the UK compared with those of non-disabled people.

The data set explores the outcomes for disabled people across areas of life including education, employment, social participation, housing, well-being, loneliness and crime. Analysis by disability status and by age, sex, impairment type and severity, and country and region, based on survey data. The analysis is taken from multiple data sources, data sets and time periods.

Main Findings:

• One-quarter (24.9%) of disabled people aged 21 to 64 years in the UK had a degree as their highest qualification compared with 42.7% of non-disabled people; 13.3% of disabled people had no qualifications compared with 4.6% of non-disabled people (year ending June 2021).
• Compared with the year ending June 2020 (23.0%), the proportion of disabled people with a degree as their highest qualification increased by 1.9 percentage points; there was also a lower proportion of disabled people having no qualification (a decrease of 1.9 percentage points).
• Around half of disabled people aged 16 to 64 years (53.5%) in the UK were in employment compared with around 8 in 10 (81.6%) for non-disabled people (July to September 2021); disabled people with severe or specific learning difficulties, autism and mental illness had the lowest employment rates.
• Nearly 1 in 4 (24.9%) disabled people aged 16 to 64 years in the UK rented social housing compared with fewer than 1 in 10 (7.9%) non-disabled people; they were also less likely to own their own home (39.7%) and less likely to live with parents (16.4%) than non-disabled people (53.3% and 19.2% respectively) (year ending June 2021).
• Comparing the housing situation of disabled people over time, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points was seen in the proportion of home ownership in 2021, compared with 2020 (41.4% in 2020, compared with 39.7% in 2021).
• Disabled people aged 16 to 64 years had poorer ratings than non-disabled people on all four personal well-being measures; average anxiety levels were higher for disabled people at 4.6 out of 10, compared with 3.0 out of 10 for non-disabled people (year ending June 2021).
• The proportion of disabled people (15.1%) aged 16 years and over in England who reported feeling lonely “often or always” was over four times that of non-disabled people (3.6%) (year ending March 2021).

You can read the full report here.