Event
29 September, 2026
11:15 am - 12:00 pm

Labour Party Conference: 'A new model: closing the disability employment gap'

In recent years the disability benefit caseload has soared, seeing more and more people trapped on welfare and losing out on the many benefits of work. Reducing dependency means supporting many more disabled people into sustainable jobs, and cutting the disability employment gap. The nature of disability and ill health, and the way people experience work and the welfare system, are changing. Closing the gap will require more than tailored employment support alone, but a wider system shift including reforming social security and ensuring employers are equipped to play their part.  

The 'Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: interim report' highlighted both the importance of PIP in helping disabled people manage the practical realities of disability, and the ways in which the current system can create barriers to participation, including in work. With the Review now developing its recommendations ahead of its final report this autumn, there is an important opportunity to consider what a genuinely modern system of disability support should look like.  

Re:State is delighted to welcome The Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Social Security and Disability to explore how the benefit system and wider employment support can work together more effectively, and what more can be done to give disabled people the opportunity to enter, progress and remain in employment.   

This private roundtable will be held in-person and will take place under the Chatham House rule.