Category: North Edinburgh News

• Findings from the UK’s largest mixed‑methods study of disabled remote and hybrid workers show that 85% of respondents say access to homeworking is essential or very important when looking for a new job
• Nearly half (46%) of the participants in the Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study want to work remotely all the time, with disabled women and disabled carers more likely to want to work fully from home 
• However, analysis of Adzuna job vacancy data shows declining levels of remote job opportunities. In 2024/25, only one in 23 job adverts on Adzuna (4.3%) were fully remote – half the level seen during the pandemic peak of 8.7% in 2020/21
• Growth in the availability of hybrid jobs appears to have stalled, with only one in seven (13.5%) job vacancies offering hybrid work in 2024/25
• Researchers warn a shortage of suitable jobs could undermine the Government’s ambition to get Britain working, and echo a recent House of Lords call for Ministers to ensure remote and hybrid working is being prioritised to boost disabled people’s employment.

The Government’s plan to get people working could face a significant challenge as remote-only job opportunities decline, warn researchers behind the largest study of disabled workers experiences of remote and hybrid working in the UK.

Research shows that almost half (46%) of 1,221 survey participants wanted to work remotely all the time, yet the numbers of remote jobs in the UK have decreased drastically since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 50% fewer remote only roles advertised compared to 2020/21.

As part of the largest study of disabled workers’ experiences of remote and hybrid work in the UK – conducted by researchers from Lancaster University, the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Universal Inclusion, and funded by the Nuffield Foundation – researchers studied job vacancy data from global job platform, Adzuna.

Remote and hybrid working remain more common than before the pandemic, but growth is slowing. In the year to April 2025, 17.8% of UK vacancies offered either fully remote (4.3%) or hybrid roles (13.5%), up from 3.1% pre-pandemic. However, fully remote jobs have fallen sharply since their peak, and growth in hybrid roles has stalled.

Dr Paula Holland from Lancaster University, who led the research, said: “The increased availability of remote and hybrid working since before the pandemic has improved many disabled people’s experience of work.

“Our findings indicate disabled employees gain significant benefits including improved mental and physical health, better work-life balance and increased productivity.

“However, companies mandating returns to the office have seen remote-only opportunities plummet. This could prevent some disabled workers from returning and staying in work. At a time when the Government wants to get people working, access to suitable homeworking roles can be the difference between working or not working.”

At a time when the Government wants to get people working, disabled workers report that access to suitable homeworking roles can be the difference between working or not working.”

Homeworking can support disabled workers, but only if done well

The UK Government has committed to supporting more disabled people to remain in or return to work as part of its wider efforts to boost employment by two million people to an 80% employment rate.

Disabled people currently represent one in four workers in the workforce, but the disability employment gap – the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people  – remains at 29.8 percentage points.

A UK Government study indicates remote work could support people out of work claiming health and disability benefits. One in four respondents (25%) who said they are currently unable to work stated that they could do so if they worked remotely.

The recent House of Lords Home-based Working Inquiry called on the Government to set out whether remote and hybrid working are being considered as part of existing initiatives to support people who are disabled or have long-term health conditions back into work.

The final report of the Inclusive Remote and Hybrid Working Study highlights remote and hybrid working as a key part of the solution to improving employment outcomes for disabled people. Key findings include:

·        64% of fully remote disabled workers said their work pattern positively affected their physical health, compared to 31% of those working remotely less than half the time

·        46% of participants wanted to work remotely all the time. There was also demand for hybrid working: 25% wanted to work from home four days a week and 27% for three days or less. Only 1.6% wanted to stop working from home

·        Women, carers and people with multiple or severely limiting impairments/health conditions were particularly likely to report they only wanted to work from home

·        85% of participants said that having access to remote/hybrid working would be essential or very important if looking for a new job. 79% would not apply for a job without remote options

·        Black and ethnic minority workers and less affluent workers were significantly less likely than white or more affluent workers to report remote/hybrid working had positive outcomes for their health and employment.

Dr Paula Holland continues, “Remote and hybrid working can benefit both employees and employers. The organisations we interviewed reported improved staff retention and recruitment as a result of implementing remote working policies including reduced sick leave and improved wellbeing.

“However, employers must ensure disabled workers have the resources and support they need. Over half of survey participants reported reasonable adjustments to support working from home had not been implemented, and black and ethnic minority workers reported significantly less positive outcomes.”

Rebecca Florisson, Principal Analyst, from the Work Foundation at Lancaster University commented: “For many disabled workers, homeworking isn’t a ‘nice to have’ – it’s essential to be able to enter into, and remain in work.

“Our research shows strong demand for remote and hybrid work among disabled people, yet fully remote job vacancies have halved since the pandemic and growth in hybrid jobs has stalled.

“If the Government is serious about getting Britain working, it must make sure the right jobs are available by expanding access to flexible work. Threats to cut disabled people’s welfare will not support them into work if the jobs they need simply aren’t there.”

Amongst its recommendations, the study calls on the UK Government to:

1.     Expand access to remote and hybrid jobs by making these and other forms of flexible working a core part of efforts to increase disabled people’s employment, including through clearing Access to Work backlogs

2.     Encourage employers to advertise flexibility upfront, including remote and hybrid options, particularly on the DWP’s Find a Job portal.

3.     Address regional inequalities in access to hybrid work through the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

4.     Strengthen reasonable adjustments, ensuring employers properly consider remote and hybrid working and meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010.

5.     Improve accountability, including requiring large employers to report on outcomes for disabled workers.

Simon, a graphic designer from Derby who has Long Covid, works in a fully remote job for a design agency. He said, “Remote work lets me work. I have chronic fatigue, post-exertional malaise (PEM), and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).

“Walking a short distance or going up the stairs can really exhaust me. Because I’m energy-limited, I need to budget my energy, pace myself and regularly lie down to rest.

“The adaptations I need are not so much equipment, but the ability to be able to take regular breaks throughout the day, where I can rest and recharge. Homeworking is much more tailored to my needs than being in the office.

“I can make the most of my working hours without a commute, so that means I have much more energy available to use for work itself. I’d find the commute to the office exhausting.

“Remote work has been a lifeline and my employer has been very supportive. Despite my health challenges, I’m just as productive working from home as I was at the office.”

Rebecca from Merseyside is a business manager in the public sector on a temporary fixed-term contract. She is autistic and has ADHD with comorbid anxiety and depression, she said, “I’ve been remote-only since 2020.

“I got an occupational health recommendation for permanent homeworking. The lack of external disruption allows me to better manage my condition.”

She has been looking for a new job for over 20 months, as she is on a temporary fixed-term contract. Rebecca continues: “I would be waiting forever if I only searched for homeworking roles.

In the last year, I’ve been offered four jobs but three have been withdrawn upon receipt of my occupational health recommendation.”

She has now accepted a new permanent full-time home-working contract at a lower salary than her current role, as she doesn’t believe she’ll find another homeworking job at her existing level that meets her needs.

Vera, from London, is in her twenties and works remotely for a healthcare company. Following stem cell treatment for her multiple sclerosis (MS), she was unable to return to a frontline role.

A recent study by the Work Foundation and the MS Society found that nearly half of people with MS (47%) look for job locations that require little or no travel.

“Remote work has made it possible for me to stay in employment — without it I couldn’t work,” she says. “While I’ve reduced my hours to four days a week, working from home means I can manage cognitive fatigue and rest during lunch breaks so I can stay productive.

“But I feel stuck, as there are so few remote-only roles. These are realistically the only roles I can apply for if I want to keep working and progress in my career.”

The report ‘Breaking down barriers: How remote and hybrid work can support disabled workers’ is published at: 

https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/inclusive-working/ 

and 

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/breaking-down-barriers.