Disability | National Statistical

Using the power of linked data to understand factors preventing people from working

Emma Rourke
December 5, 2023

Categories: Coronavirus, Disability, Economy, Health, Office for National Statistics, Office for Statistics Regulation, ONS, Population, UK Statistics Authority, Wellbeing

Crowds of people walking through a busy street

Nearly 9 million working-age people in the UK were not working or looking for work – that is, economically inactive – from May to July 2023. This figure includes more than 2.5 million people inactive due to long-term sickness, an increase of half-a-million people since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Emma Rourke explains how linked, population-level data can improve our understanding of the interplay between health and work, with the goal of improving the wellbeing of individuals and the economy.

Listening to young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Emma Jones & Amber Jordan
June 19, 2023

Categories: Disability, Health, Inclusion, ONS, Population, Wellbeing

Today (19 June 2023) is the start of Learning Disability Week. This annual event, organised by Mencap, aims to educate, spread awareness, and increase understanding of learning disabilities. It is all about making sure the world hears what life is like if you have a learning disability. Here Amber Jordan and Emma Jones from the ONS’s Centre for Equalities and Inclusion explain some of the work the ONS has been doing, looking at the educational experiences of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Disability: When the numbers alone are simply not enough 

Statistically Speaking
April 3, 2023

Categories: Census, Disability, Health, Public Policy, Wellbeing

The most recent estimates suggest one in five people in the UK are disabled. But to really understand the nature of those disabilities and the needs of people reporting them we need to do a lot more work.

In this episode of Statistically Speaking we look at what’s being done to gain insight into the lives of disabled children and adults and provide high quality qualitative data that reflects the day-to-day lives of all people in our society.