Outcomes for disabled people in the UK: 2021

• 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).

This article explores a selection of outcomes for disabled people in the UK. It presents a brief summary of findings for a number of topics, highlighting significant differences. The analysis is taken from multiple data sources with related data in the associated datasets. Covering 2013 to 2021, information about disabled people is disaggregated by characteristics such as age and sex, geographical breakdowns, and specific aspects of disability such as main impairment type and severity. Prevalence of disability in the UK is provided by the Family Resource Survey (FRS) tables.

Please see the Data sources and quality section or the accompanying methodology article for more information on the methodology for each topic and the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on data collection and how we mitigate this.

A quarter (24.9%) of disabled people aged 21 to 64 years had a degree or equivalent as their highest qualification, compared with 42.7% of non-disabled people. In addition, disabled people were almost three times as likely to have no qualifications (13.3%) than non-disabled people (4.6%). Disabled people were also more likely to have GCSE grades C and higher or equivalent as their highest form of qualification (23.3%), in comparison with non-disabled people (17.4%).

Compared with the year ending June 2020 (23.0%), the percentage of disabled people who had a degree or equivalent as their highest form of qualification increased by 1.9 percentage points in 2021 (24.9%). This reflects the long-term increases in degree attainment that are apparent in Figure 1. There was also a lower proportion of disabled people in 2021 (13.3%) having no qualification compared with the previous year (15.2%).

Across all age groups (21 to 64 years), disabled people were less likely to have obtained a degree and more likely to have no qualifications than non-disabled people. For both disabled and non-disabled people, the two oldest age groups (55 to 59 years and 60 to 64 years) saw the largest proportions of those with no qualifications and the largest contrast between them (17.2% for disabled people and 6.8% for non-disabled people aged 55 to 59 years, and 19.2% for disabled people and 8.9% for non-disabled people aged 60 to 64 years). This may reflect changes to the education system since 1970, which mean that it has become more common for all people to access education in younger age groups.

The largest disparity between disabled and non-disabled people achieving a degree was seen for the youngest age group (21 to 24 years), with 17.8% of disabled people obtaining a degree compared with 42.5% of non-disabled people, a difference of 24.7 percentage points. This contrast has increased since 2020 (17.3 percentage points) and 2019 (14.8 percentage points).

Figure 2: Between year ending June 2019 and 2021, the proportion of non-disabled people aged 21 to 24 years with a degree has increased while the proportion of disabled people with a degree in that age group remained stable

Proportion of disabled and non-disabled people aged 21 to 24 years with a degree as highest qualification, UK

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Despite an increase in the overall proportion of disabled people obtaining a degree in 2021 compared with earlier years, the disparity between the youngest age group (21 to 24 years) is driven by an increasing trend in non-disabled people achieving a degree. Degree attainment for disabled people (21 to 24 years) has remained similar over the past three years. This disparity seems to contradict trends reflecting changes to the education system and may be because of new factors.

Comparing UK countries, England saw the highest proportion of disabled and non-disabled people achieving degrees. This has been increasing annually between 2018 (22.4% for disabled and 38.7% for non-disabled) and 2021 (25.7% for disabled and 42.9% for non-disabled). Comparing 2021 to 2020, for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England, the gap between disabled and non-disabled people achieving degrees significantly increased.

Please see the Disability and education dataset for more information.

Between July and September 2021, 53.5% of disabled people aged 16 to 64 years in the UK were employed compared with 81.6% of non-disabled people. While similar patterns were seen for both sexes, a larger gap was seen in the employment rate between disabled and non-disabled men (31.1 percentage points) than for women (24.8 percentage points). The larger disparity was driven by the higher employment rate for non-disabled men (84.9%) than for non-disabled women (78.1%) while the employment rates for disabled people of both sexes were similar (53.8% for men and 53.3% for women).

Figure 4: The disability employment gap is largest between those aged 45 to 49 years and 55 to 59 years

Employment rate for disabled and non-disabled people aged 16 to 64 years, by age, UK, year ending June 2021

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Across all age groups, the employment rate was lower for disabled than non-disabled people, with the greatest employment gaps seen for those aged between 45 to 49 years, 50 to 54 years, and 55 to 59 years. The employment gap for disabled people aged 45 to 49 years was 32.9 percentage points, for those aged 50 to 54 years it was 34.5 percentage points, and for those aged 55 to 59 years it was 34.7 percentage points.

While the employment gap was smallest between disabled and non-disabled people aged 16 to 19 years, both groups were least likely to be employed at this age (the employment rate for disabled people was 18.5%, compared with 29.6% of non-disabled people, which is a percentage point difference of 11.1). These trends have been consistent between years ending June 2014 and June 2021, but the employment gap has reduced in all age categories.

Figure 5 shows how the employment rates of disabled people varied by main impairment type. Disabled people with severe or specific learning difficulties (26.2%), autism (29.0%), and mental illness or other nervous disorders (30.1%) had employment rates that were lower than disabled people with other impairment types.

Type of occupation and working patterns

As shown in Figure 6, differences were seen between the type of occupation disabled and non-disabled people were working in. When looking at type of employment, there were more disabled people who were self-employed (13.8%) than non-disabled people (12.5%). These trends are consistent with 2020.

Figure 6: Working disabled people were less likely to work as managers, directors and senior officials or in professional occupations than working non-disabled people

Occupation of working disabled and non-disabled people, aged 16 to 64 years, UK, year ending June 2021

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Please see the Disability and employment dataset for more information.

Civic engagement and social action

In the year ending March 2021, disabled people aged 16 years and over were as likely to have been involved in civic participation (45.7%), such as signing a petition or attending a public rally, as non-disabled people (43.0%). Similar proportions of disabled and non-disabled people were also involved in civic consultations, civic activism, and social action in 2021.

While higher proportions of disabled people were involved in civic participation in 2018 and 2019 (45.5% and 41.5%) than non-disabled people (38.4% and 35.1%), this difference is no longer significant in 2020 or 2021 because of increased participation of non-disabled people (42.1% in 2020 compared with 35.1% in 2019).

Figure 7: Disabled people as likely as non-disabled people to be involved in civic consultations, civic activism, and social action in 2021

Percentage of disabled and non-disabled people who engaged in civic participation, civic consultation, civic activism and social action, England, year ending March 2021

Notes:

1. Please refer to methodology article for definitions of all civic engagements and social action.

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Volunteering

Disabled people showed similar proportions of participation in either formal or informal volunteering (30.4% for formal and 56.6% for informal) to non-disabled people (32.9% and 55.6% respectively) in 2021.

For both disabled and non-disabled people, involvement in formal volunteering decreased between 2020 and 2021, a reduction of 8.5 percentage points for disabled people and 8.0 percentage points for non-disabled people.

Disabled people who said they were limited a little (33.8%) were more likely to formally volunteer than those who said they were limited a lot (22.9%) in 2021. Among those who said they were limited a little, a lower proportion were involved in formal volunteering in 2021 (33.8%) compared with 2020 (43.0%). The 2021 estimate was also significantly lower than the previously recorded estimates for 2018, 2019 and 2020 (41.9%, 42.0%, 43.0%).

Please see the Disability and social participation dataset for more information.

In the year ending June 2021, 24.9% of disabled people aged 16 to 64 years rented social housing compared with only 7.9% of non-disabled people. This was consistent with 2020. In 2021, disabled people were less likely to own their own home (39.7%) or to live with parents (16.4%) than non-disabled people (53.3% and 19.2% respectively).

Figure 8: One quarter of disabled people rented social housing in 2021

Housing situation of disabled and non-disabled people aged 16 to 64 years, UK, year ending June 2021

Notes:

1. “Living with parents” also includes students at boarding school or those in halls of residence.

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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).

The housing situation of disabled and non-disabled people varied by sex. Disabled women were less likely to own a home (41.2% and 54.2%), less likely to live with their parents (12.7% and 17.1%) and more likely to rent social housing (26.8% and 9.2%) compared with non-disabled women. Similarly, disabled men were less likely to own their home (37.8% and 52.5%) and were more likely to rent social housing (22.5% and 6.6%) than non-disabled men.

Disabled people were significantly less likely to own their own home than non-disabled people across all ages (excluding ages 16 to 24 years). The largest disparity was seen for ages 45 to 49 years, where 46.4% of disabled people owned their own homes compared with 72.8% of non-disabled people, a percentage point difference of 26.4.

Housing situation did not differ significantly between most impairment types. However, those with autism, or severe or specific learning difficulties were more likely than those with any other main impairment type to be living with parents (76.0% and 65.9% respectively). They were also less likely to own their own homes compared with any other main impairment type (3.8% and 8.0% respectively).

Please see the Disability and housing dataset for more information.

On average, disabled people aged 16 to 64 years had poorer ratings than non-disabled people on all four personal well-being measures, with the greatest disparity in average anxiety levels. In the year ending June 2021, the mean scores on these measures were:

• for life satisfaction, 6.5 out of 10 for disabled people, compared with 7.6 for non-disabled people
• for feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, 7.0 out of 10 for disabled people, compared with 7.9 for non-disabled people
• for happiness yesterday, 6.4 out of 10 for disabled people, compared with 7.6 for non-disabled people
• for anxiety yesterday, 4.6 out of 10 for disabled people, compared with 3.0 for non-disabled people (higher numbers equate to poorer well-being in this measure)

Figure 9: Disabled people reported poorer average well-being levels than non-disabled people

Average well-being ratings for disabled and non-disabled people, aged 16 to 64 years, UK, year ending June 2021

Notes:

1. Higher numbers equate to poorer well-being when considering the anxiety measure.

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Both disabled (6.5) and non-disabled people (7.6) had lower ratings of life satisfaction in 2021, compared with 2020 (6.6 for disabled people, compared with 7.8 for non-disabled people). Although disabled people had overall poorer ratings, when comparing over time, non-disabled people also indicated poorer ratings of whether things done in life are worthwhile in 2021 compared with 2020.

Please see the Disability and well-being dataset for more information.

In the year ending March 2021, disabled people were more likely to report feelings of loneliness “often or always” (15.1%) than non-disabled people (3.6%), a percentage point difference of 11.5. The disparity between disabled and non-disabled people has risen by 7.4 percentage points compared with 2014 (10.9% disabled and 3.5% non-disabled).

Estimates of disabled people who reported feeling lonely “often or always” (15.1%) are greater in 2021 than in 2014 (10.9%). By comparison, estimates of non-disabled people feeling lonely “often or always” from 2014 (3.5%) remain similar to those in 2021 (3.6%). For both groups, there were no significant changes in the estimates of those reporting feeling lonely “often or always” between 2021 and earlier years, other than 2014. Between 2020 and 2021, where data were collected during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, disabled people (1.0 percentage point) have seen a sharper increase than non-disabled people (0.1 percentage points), though these differences over time are not significant.

Figure 10: The proportion of disabled people who felt lonely “often or always” in 2021 has increased compared with 2014

Proportion of people who feel lonely “often or always” by disability status, aged 16 years and over, England, year ending April 2014 to year ending March 2021

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Disabled people aged 65 years and over were less likely to report feeling lonely “often or always” (8.6%) than those who were aged 35 to 49 years (19.2%), aged 25 to 34 years (18.6%) and aged 16 to 24 years (28.1%). Disabled people between the ages of 50 and 64 years were also significantly less likely to be lonely (13.4%) than those who were between ages 16 and 24 years (28.1%).

Those who were disabled and who reported being limited a lot in their day-to-day activities were more than twice as likely to say that they felt lonely “often or always” (25.5%) than those who said they were limited a little (10.4%). Those limited a lot were also seven times as likely to say they felt lonely as those who were non-disabled (3.6%).

Please see the Disability and loneliness dataset for more information.

Estimates for crime are based on 2020 data because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). Please see the associated methodological article for more information. The definition of anti-social behaviour (ASB) used for the CSEW is any behaviour that causes people nuisance, annoyance, alarm or distress. This can include behaviours that are aggressive or intimidating.

In England and Wales, disabled people aged 16 years and over (43.4%) were significantly more likely to have experienced any ASB in the year ending March 2020 than non-disabled people (39%).

Both disabled men (43.6%) and women (43.3%) were equally as likely to experience ASB. However, the difference was greater between disabled women and non-disabled women (5.4 percentage points) than between disabled men and non-disabled men (3.5 percentage points).

Disabled people were more likely to experience any ASB than non-disabled people in all age groups apart from those aged 75 and over, where similar proportions were seen (23.8% and 23.6%). Irrespective of disability status, this age group experienced the least ASB. The largest percentage point difference (14.4) was seen for the age group 35 to 44 years, where 57.7% of disabled people of this age experienced ASB compared with 43.3% of non-disabled people.

Figure 11: Disabled people were more likely to experience nuisance neighbours as a form of anti-social behaviour than non-disabled people

Proportion of adults experiencing any anti-social behaviour in the last year by disability status and type of anti-social behaviour, England and Wales, year ending March 2020

Notes:

1. This chart focuses on the ASB types that showed significant differences between disabled and non-disabled people.

2. Participants were able to answer all that apply.

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Considering type of ASB, disabled people were generally more likely or as likely to experience any type of ASB than non-disabled people. Please refer to Figure 11 for the significant differences between them.

Please see the Disability and crime dataset for more information.

For details on all definitions used in this article, please refer to the accompanying methodology article’s glossary.

Disability

To define disability in this publication, we refer to the Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised “core” definition. This identifies a person as disabled when they have a physical or mental health condition or illness that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months or more, which reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

The GSS definition is designed to reflect the definitions that appear in legal terms in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and the subsequent Equality Act 2010.

The GSS harmonised questions are asked of the respondent in the survey, which means that disability status is self-reported.

Severity

Disabled people whose ability to carry out day-to-day activities is self-reported as “limited a lot” or “limited a little” by their impairment. Respondents were asked: “Does your condition or illness reduce your ability to carry out day-to-day activities?” with the responses, “yes, a lot” and “yes, a little” being taken to indicate severity of disability.

Impairment

An impairment is defined as any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more. Respondents were presented with a list of impairments and then asked to select all that applied to them and, subsequently, their “main health problem”.

For all analysis conducted using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), the GSS harmonised principle for impairment is used. Please see the methodological article for updates on any changes to the Impairments categories recorded by the Annual Population Survey (APS).

Statistical significance

Any changes or differences mentioned in this publication are “statistically significant”. The statistical significance of differences noted within the release are determined based on non-overlapping confidence intervals.

Different datasets are used to produce the estimates on outcomes in different areas of life as outlined in Table 1. This section provides a brief introduction on the data sources. The accompanying methodology article provides more details on the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the data sources, survey coverage, and strengths and limitations of the analysis.

Labour Force Survey (LFS)

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a UK quarterly household survey of approximately 90,000 individuals each quarter. The survey does not cover communal establishments, except for NHS staff accommodation. Those living in student halls of residence or boarding school are included as part of their family household.

Annual Population Survey (APS)

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is an annual survey based on data collected in Wave 1 and Wave 5 on the LFS, combined with an annual local area boost sample run in England, Wales and Scotland.

The survey does not cover communal establishments, except for NHS staff accommodation. Those living in student halls of residence or boarding school are included as part of their family household. The APS dataset contains approximately 300,000 individuals.

Coverage and population of the APS and LFS

Analysis conducted using the APS and the LFS has been restricted to those aged between 16 to 64 years in the case of employment, housing and well-being analysis. This is because the survey does not collect data for those aged under 16 years, and the disability variable is not robust for those aged over 64 years.

The APS datasets are produced for four different overlapping 12-month periods:

• January to December
• April to March
• July to June
• October to September

Analysis for this publication was conducted for the July 2020 to June 2021 period for most breakdowns.

Community Life Survey (CLS)

The Community Life Survey (CLS) is a household self-completion survey of approximately 10,000 people aged 16 years and over in England only. It is used to calculate social participation and loneliness proportions. The survey can be completed either in a paper or online format; the question regarding disability status is asked online only. Analysis was conducted on the year ending March 2021.

The loneliness and social participation analysis is restricted to people aged 16 years and over and to England only, as the CLS does not collect data for those aged under 16 years or the other countries in the UK. In each domain, participation refers to any involvement in the 12 months prior to completing the survey. For more detail, see the accompanying methodology article.

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

The analysis presented in this release uses data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). This is a face-to-face victimisation survey, which asks approximately 35,000 respondents aged 16 years and over residing in households in England and Wales about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to the interview. Individuals residing in group residences (for example, care homes or halls of residence) or other institutions are not included in the CSEW sample.

A full list of the strengths and limitations of the CSEW can be found in the Crime in England and Wales QMI.