NEARLY half of disabled people of working age in Cumbria are not in employment, new figures suggest.

The figures, which come from the UK government’s Department of Work and Pensions, show there were around 75,000 disabled people aged between 16 to 64 in Cumbria as of June – 48 per cent of whom were not in work.

This compares to 15 per cent among those without disabilities.

Across the UK, there were 9.6million disabled people, a rise of 1.9million in June 2019, before the Covid pandemic.

The gap in employment rates between the disabled and non-disabled population has remained steady, but is currently slightly smaller than in 2013-14, when local figures were first available.

At this point, the same figures show 55 per cent of around 55,000 disabled people in Cumbria were out of work.

Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK, said: "The UK government previously had a commitment to halve the gap, but stepped away from this ambitious target.

“There is a lot the government can do to support disabled people into work and to stop disabled workers falling out of the labour market."

She urged support for the Disability Employment Charter, which calls on the government to introduce new measures to support disabled workers.

These include requiring companies to report the difference in pay between disabled and non-disabled staff and improve workplace adjustments for those who need them.

James Taylor, director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, urged businesses to "recognise, promote and nurture" disabled talent but said the government must also work to improve conditions.

He said: "Our labour market is rigged against disabled people.

“Businesses are letting talented disabled people slip through their fingers by not supporting disabled employees.

"Poor attitudes, inflexible working practices, delays to access to work, and low sick pay rates all make it harder for disabled people to stay and thrive in work.

"Disabled people are losing out on work unfairly and being pushed into a broken benefits system that includes sanctions.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said: "We’re committed to closing the disability employment gap, and we've seen 2.2million more disabled people in work since 2013."

"Our next generation of welfare reforms will see an extra £2billion break down barriers to work for those with disabilities and health conditions, including joined-up health and employment support and extra work coach time, so everyone can fulfil their potential."