The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has launched an inquiry into flexible working and disability.

As the Committee explains, the inquiry was prompted by concerns as to why, despite a “cultural shift since the Covid-19 pandemic towards greater acceptance of flexible working” which should theoretically enable disabled people with a range of impairments to overcome barriers to work, the unemployment rate of disabled people remains “stubbornly high”.

In addition to addressing the broad matter of why flexible working appears not to have had a substantial impact on the employment rate of disabled people, and whether experiences of flexible working differ across different types of disability or impairment, the inquiry’s terms of reference invites written submissions in response to a number of questions, including:

• To what extent will the flexible working provisions in the Employment Rights Act 2025 benefit disabled workers and jobseekers? Are there further legislative or policy steps the Government could take to increase disabled people’s access to flexible working?
• How clear and well understood is the law around employers’ Equality Act duties to provide flexible working options and associated aids and equipment as “reasonable adjustments”?
• What are the impacts on disabled workers of employers’ “back to the office” mandates?
• How effective is the Equality and Human Rights Commission in enforcing disabled people’s rights to flexible working? What steps could the Commission take to improve understanding, compliance and enforcement?
• Are there best practice examples of access to flexible working for disabled workers? How can these be spread across sectors to benefit a much greater proportion of disabled people?

Commenting on the inquiry’s launch, the Chair of the WEC, Sarah Owen, said that the Committee will be “looking across sectors to assess whether there are further legislative or policy steps the Government could take to increase disabled people’s access to flexible working”, adding that it will “also assess the clarity of the law, and people’s awareness and understanding of it, around employers’ Equality Act reasonable adjustment duties in relation to flexible working, making recommendations for change where needed”.

The deadline for submissions is 26 June 2026. More information can be found here.