Disability entrepreneurship

There are 6.8m disabled people of working age in the UK of which 20% are self employed. The East Midlands working age disabled population stands at over half a million and the potential GVA of this population, if only 1.9% started a business would be over £200m which would make a significant contribution to the regional economy. 

As part of emda’s role in improving the economy of the East Midlands a piece of research was commissioned by the Agency to better understand the role that disabled people play in the business and entrepreneurial landscapes of the region.

The final report has now been published and the findings highlight that a number of barriers are faced by disabled people in terms of them taking steps into self-employment. These range from a lack of confidence through to financial worries, particularly the fear of losing benefits and being able to access start-up finance. The report offers measures to address some of these issues along with an over-arching recommendation that greater promotion of self-employment is needed by all business support agencies and that organisations need appropriate resources to help disabled entrepreneurs.

The report has since gone on to inform the national agenda and is quoted within ‘Valuing Employment Now – Real jobs for people with learning disabilities’. This was launched in the East Midlands in October 2009 and seeks to radically increase the number of people with learning disabilities in employment by 2025.

Related document: 

Final report for Scoping Study into the Business Support Needs of Disabled Entrepreneurs in the East Midlands [PDF, 424 KB]