The Department for Work and Pensions is in talks over a major new drive to get more neurodivergent people into work
The DWP is facing questions as it holds talks over a major push to get more people with autism and other conditions into work. The department is under scrutiny over its reaction to a major new report designed to help more neurodivergent people into the workplace.
The new report has made a string of recommendations aimed at those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other neurodivergent conditions. Two-thirds of autistic people in the UK are currently out of work. The Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity has now published its findings and recommendations in an effort to enable many more of them to succeed in the workplace.
It calls for “support that responds to individual strengths and challenges, based on need rather than diagnosis.” It also sets out a number of objectives for Andy Burnham’s government.
The Department for Work and Pensions has issued its response. However, experts who have examined what Andy Burnham’s government has said are already raising concerns about what they are actually planning to do.
What does the neurodiversity at work report call for?
The report aims to set out the best ways to support neurodivergent employees in the workplace. It argues this is good for people with conditions such as autism and ADHD – but can also benefit the taxpayer by easing pressure on health and welfare systems, while driving economic growth.
The report urges the government to change the way workplaces are built in the UK so that they are designed with everyone in mind from the beginning – rather than trying to adjust them afterwards. It calls for more practical steps to help neurodivergent employees succeed.
It also urges Mr Burnham’s adminstration to strengthen existing disability employment policy among other measures. And it says neurodivergent people bring valuable skills and perspectives to the workplace, and that removing barriers can allow people to do their best work.
The government has responded by saying that “everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed.” Yet questions remain about what it actually plans to do.
Joey Nettleton Burrows, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the National Autistic Society, welcomed the report. However, he warned that “without clear motivation for employers to put these recommendations into practice, there is a risk that they won’t be implemented effectively across the country.
“The Government must work with employers, and autistic people, to transform these findings into action.
“Doing so could make a significant impact on reducing the autism employment gap, giving more autistic people the opportunity to unlock their potential and to thrive in the workplace.” Ronnie Cane of The Neurodiversity Directory also raised concerns about the government’s response, saying: “The recommendation that asks for a change of outlook was supported the same day.
“The recommendations that would bind someone to a date, a budget line or a statute were routed to a review, described as under reform, or declined. A department can agree with a principle on a Friday. A deadline creates a duty, a duty creates enforcement, and enforcement creates cost.
“Each of those answers is locally reasonable. Together they leave the worker where the report found them.”
Kathryn Stringer, CEO of GAIN, the Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity, welcomed the report and said: “This report is an important step in broadening the conversation around neurodiversity and recognising the wide range of experiences, strengths and challenges across the neurodivergent community.”
“We particularly welcome the focus on supporting people according to their individual strengths and needs, rather than diagnosis.”
In response to the findings, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: “When we get the right support in place, neurodivergent people thrive at work. That’s good for them, good for business and good for the economy. Everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed. Connect to Work is already proving this approach works, and we’ll keep building on it so more neurodivergent people get the tailored support they need to build fulfilling careers.”
So far, there has been no further pledge of new large-scale funding to implement the report’s findings. The government says it will now “hold conversations with employers to explore practical, low-cost changes that help neurodivergent employees thrive.”
The response is “part of a wider government effort to ensure a fulfilled life for neurodivergent people, within and beyond work.” The panel also recommended that, wherever feasible, workplace systems and environments are built for everyone from the outset, rather than relying on adjustments being made for people individually later on. In response, the Government has launched a sixteen-week “policy discovery exercise” to examine where such principles could be applied to workplaces in the future.
At the same time, the government’s response also pointed to welfare reforms it is expected to make that critics say could lead to cuts. The government said in its response to the report that it is “committed to further steps to bring about effective and sustainable welfare reform”, which it said would be guided by the Milburn and Timms reviews, which are due to conclude later this year.
In 2024/25, it emerged that only 34 per cent of all people with autism were in work – far below the 55 percent of disabled people overall. This gap led to the launch of The Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity in January 2025 to advise the Government on how to help more neurodivergent people succeed at work.
Neurodiversity Panel Chair Professor Amanda Kirby said after the report’s publication: “Neurodivergent people have enormous talent to offer the economy, yet too often that talent goes untapped because support hasn’t matched their needs.
“Our report shows that when neurodivergent people get the support they need, everybody benefits: employees find roles where they can excel, businesses gain from different skills and perspectives, and the wider economy grows stronger as more people contribute.”
What is the government pledging to do about the neurodiversity report?
The Government, in its response, outlined what it says is already being implemented through Connect to Work, part of a broader £3.5 billion disability employment investment. Officials say its specialist support for neurodivergent and learning-disabled people tailors support around each person’s unique strengths and requirements, helping them secure roles in which they can flourish.
The government asaid the Connect to Work the scheme is available throughout England and Wales and is set to assist thousands of neurodivergent and learning-disabled people in building careers by the end of the decade.
By the end of June, it said 1,000 people on the specialist Connect to Work pathway for neurodivergent and learning-disabled people had moved into work, 470 of whom were young people, according to the government. It insisted that much of the work required to fulfil the recommendations is “in train already”. It listed:
- “Nearly 500 additional staff to be recruited to clear inherited backlog in the Access to Work scheme and help people get the support they need quicker.”
- “The deployment of 1,000 Pathways to Work advisers who’ve already helped over 100,000 people the previous Government wrote off.”
- “Reforms to our Disability Confident Scheme, including removing the option for employers at the entry level to renew at this level to encourage employers to progress up the scheme. “
- “The national expansion of WorkWell backed by £259m, helping up to 250,000 people with health conditions to stay in or return to work. “
- “£60 million Pathways to Work Innovation Fund, encouraging businesses and charities to transform how disabled people and those with health conditions are supported into work.”
The government also highlighted its investment in a £2.5 billion youth employment support package, which it claims will generate nearly 500,000 jobs and training opportunities to assist young people into employment.
For more on neurodiversity, visit this NHS web page. You can read the panel’s report in full here, along with the government’s response.
