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<p>The Government is committed to seeing a million more disabled people in work by
2027 and ensuring that disabled people have fair and equal opportunities to become
successful business leaders. The latest figures (published Tuesday 13 Nov) show that
disability employment has increased by 973,000 in the last five years.</p><p> </p><p>The
Equality Act 2010 legally protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace
and in wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single
Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations.</p><p>
</p><p>We actively support disabled people to enter employment through initiatives
like the Work and Health Programme, which is expected to support 220,000 disabled
people over 5 years; and the Personal Support Package for those on ESA and Universal
Credit equivalents.</p><p> </p><p>We also support new and existing disabled workers
with Access to Work, which approved support for 27,730 disabled workers in 2017/18,
an increase of 11% on 2016/17. The support Access to Work offers includes a discretionary
grant of up to £57,200 pa, without which many disabled business leaders might not
be able to achieve their employment goals.</p><p> </p><p>We engage with employers
through Disability Confident. Over 9,500 employers are currently signed up to Disability
Confident and that number grows weekly.</p><p> </p><p>We are integrating Access to
Work communications into Disability Confident promotions so employers can easily understand
how they can receive support with the costs of making workplace adjustments.</p><p>
</p><p>Potential disabled entrepreneurs who are claiming benefits such as ESA or UC
equivalents may receive specialist self-employment support through Work and Health
Programme and Personal Support Package. The Work and Health Programme includes integrated
access to specialist support networks at a local level. In addition, claimants who
wish to start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs may be able to receive
start up support through the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA). Around 1 in 4 people
who start on the NEA have a self-declared disability.</p>
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