Beyond the Office? Disabled workers’ experiences of remote and hybrid work

Overnight, the Covid-19 pandemic opened up a new era of workplace flexibility for millions of people with a great increase in working remotely. Today, one in five workers (20.6%) work mainly from home, quadrupling since 2019 when only one in 20 people did (5%). However, with ‘return to office’ mandates hitting the headlines on a regular basis, there has been limited attention paid to the experiences of disabled workers. Nearly one in four of the working-age population are disabled, but disabled people continue to face a substantial employment gap and disadvantages in the labour market. This event presented findings from the largest mixed methods study of disabled workers’ experiences of remote and hybrid work in the UK, which was led by researchers from Lancaster University, the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Universal Inclusion, and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The event took place on Zoom on 1 July 2025. Speakers included: Chair: Alice Martin (Head of Research, Work Foundation at Lancaster University) Presenter: Dr Paula Holland (Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Lancaster University) Panel one: Jacqueline Winstanley (Founder and Chief Executive, Universal Inclusion), Beth Kume-Holland (Chief Executive, Patchwork Hub), Caroline Mallan (Head of External Affairs and PR, Chartered Management Institute) Panel two: Fazilet Hadi (Head of Policy, Disability Rights UK), Professor Debbie Foster (Professor of Employment Relations and Diversity at Cardiff Business School).