Three in five disabled people out of work in South Tyneside last year

Only two out of five disabled people in South Tyneside were in work last year, new figures show.

- by Gazette Reporter

Department for Work and Pensions data show just 40% of 30,106 working-age people in the borough - just over 12,000-who have a disability were in employment in the year to March.

The employment rate stood at 77% for non-disabled people, meaning the disability employment gap-the rate of disabled and non-disabled people in work - was 37%

The gap stood at 43% the previous year-with 33% of disabled people in a job and 77% of non-disabled people in employment.

Last year the Government set out a plan to achieve an 80% employment rate, by reducing ill-health related economic inactivity and closing the gap between disabled and non-disabled employment levels.

Nationally, around 55% of the country's 10.2million disabled people were in work in the year to March, compared to 82% for the 31.4m non-disabled.