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The Way We RollAuthor: Simon Minty and Phil Friend
A seriously funny take on life from the disability driven duo... Simon Minty and Phil Friend. Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Keep Britain Working: disabled people, people with long term health conditions and work, with Sir Charlie Mayfield
Friday, 31 July, 2026
Let’s start with some numbers - 2.8 million people are economically inactive due to health conditions. An increase of 800,000 since 2019.53% of disabled people are in work. People with learning disabilities: just 4.8%300,000 people with a health condition leave work every yearThe total cost of health-related worklessness: £212 billion a year — roughly 7% of GDPMental health inactivity among 16–34-year-olds rose by 76% between 2019 and 2024How do you close the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people? The latest person to step up is Sir Charlie Mayfield. Appointed by the UK government, he led the Keep Britain Working review examining how to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabled people. Sir Charlie is our guest this month. He highlights three key issues stopping more disabled people get in to work: widespread fear among both employees and employers about discussing health and disability, a lack of proper support systems for navigating reasonable adjustments, and the exclusion faced by disabled people in the workplace. His solutions? There are many, and he’s focused on data, implementation and outcomes. He tells us about international examples, particularly from Denmark and the Netherlands, where better support systems and incentives have led to better employment outcomes for disabled people. Our conversation showed Sir Charlie’s commitment to this. As he says, whilst the problem is significant, it is also fixable through coordinated action across government, employers, and providers.LinksKeep Britain Working Final Report (31.3.2026)Keep Britain Working review – updatesCharlie Mayfield WikiCharlie Mayfield Government role and info The Disability Policy Centre response to Keep Britain Working review
