Policy paper

Get Britain Working outcomes

Published 3 April 2025

Background

The government has a clear ambition to raise the employment rate to 80% but recognises that there are many components of a sustained improvement to the workforce. The metrics in this document show some of the key indicators that the government will continue to monitor closely as we carry out our work. These will build on aims set out in the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change^{[footnote 1]} and published in the Get Britain Working White Paper^{[footnote 2]}.

About the outcome metrics

Key outcome metrics

Following advice from the Labour Market Advisory Board^{[footnote 3]}, chaired by Professor Paul Gregg, all metrics apply to people aged 18 to 66, unless where otherwise stated. The rationale for this is that education or training should continue until age 18 in England^{[footnote 4]} and State Pension age will be 67 by March 2028^{[footnote 5]}. This age range therefore best reflects the ‘working age population’.

1. Employment rate – the number of people aged 18 to 66 in employment divided by the population aged 18 to 66.

2. Real earnings amongst non-retired households (all ages) – a component of real household disposable income (RHDI). We look at wages and salaries, imputed income from benefits-in-kind and self-employment income in households of non-retired individuals. Additional focus will be on households in the bottom half/lower 50% of the income distribution.

Intermediate outcome metrics

1. Local variation in employment rates – employment rates (i.e. the number of people aged 18 to 66 in local authorities, defined as unitary local authorities/local authorities counties in the UK, their distribution and gap between the bottom 10% and median.

2. Health related economic inactivity rate – number of people aged 18 to 66 who are economically inactive due to being long-term sick divided by the 18 to 66 population.

3. Disability employment rate gap – the difference in the employment rate of people, aged 18 to 66, who report they are disabled as defined by the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmoniseed Standard^{[footnote 6]}, and those who do not.

4. Proportion of 18 to 24 year olds not in education, employment or training^{[footnote 7]}, supported by an increase in the proportion of 16 to 21 year olds in education or a job with training^{[footnote 8]}.

5. Employment among parents aged 18 to 66:

a. the employment rate gap between lone parents and parents in a couple - the difference in the employment rate of lone parents and parents in a couple. The employment rate of lone parents is calculated as the number of lone parents in employment divided by the number of all lone parents. The employment rate for parents in a couple is calculated as the sum of fathers employed in couple and mothers employed in a couple divided by all parents in a couple. Both are relevant for families with people aged 18 to 66.

b. the percentage of coupled families where at least one parent is out of work – the number of families with parents in a couple, where one or more of the parents are out of work divided by the number of families with coupled parents. Relevant for people aged 18 to 66.

And aim to increase:

6. Female employment rate^{[footnote 9]} – the number of women aged 18 to 66 in employment divided by the number of women in the population, aged 18 to 66.

Key outcome metrics

Increase employment rate for people aged 18 to 66 (towards long-term ambition of 80%).

The employment rate of people aged 18 to 66 is 75.8%. This is 0.3% pts up on the year and 1.1% pts down on pre-COVID pandemic.

Figure 1: Employment rate of people aged 18 to 66

Date	18 to 66 employment rate %
Jan to Mar 2005	72.6%
Apr to Jun 2008	72.8%
Jul to Sep 2011	70.6%
Oct to Dec 2014	73.5%
Jan to Mar 2018	75.6%
Apr to Jun 2021	75.3%
Jul to Sep 2024	75.7%

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey^{[footnote 10]}

Increase real earnings^{[footnote 11]} amongst non-retired households, especially in the bottom half of the income distribution.

Real earnings at the bottom half of the income distribution (5th decile and below), has generally been increasing since 2014 to 2015.

Figure 2: Real earnings at the bottom half of income distribution (5th decile and below) (2022 to 2023 prices)

Deciles	2014 to 2015	2015 to 2016	2016 to 2017	2017 to 2018	2018 to 2019	2019 to 2020	2020 to 2021	2021 to 2022	2022 to 2023
Bottom	£5,568	£6,955	£8,516	£7,582	£9,569	£11,304	£8,233	£8,607	£11,496
2nd	£13,795	£15,784	£16,189	£14,861	£17,629	£21,203	£19,895	£20,024	£20,655
3rd	£19,514	£19,888	£21,965	£25,664	£26,921	£30,027	£28,212	£29,749	£30,604
4th	£29,062	£29,567	£31,035	£33,350	£37,433	£38,711	£37,075	£39,442	£39,057
5th	£38,863	£36,151	£38,825	£40,306	£45,866	£47,894	£47,052	£47,838	£47,547
6th	£47,618	£45,282	£47,356	£50,602	£57,577	£56,446	£55,206	£57,659	£55,842
7th	£56,155	£55,206	£58,710	£57,666	£65,219	£67,725	£65,342	£68,847	£66,523
8th	£65,771	£68,313	£67,907	£69,801	£79,200	£80,026	£74,713	£78,847	£78,124
9th	£80,395	£77,431	£82,418	£89,874	£95,505	£95,006	£88,801	£97,825	£94,964
Top	£132,851	£133,205	£135,637	£142,521	£183,310	£193,312	£178,073	£198,567	£171,571
All individuals	£48,959	£48,777	£50,856	£53,223	£61,823	£64,165	£60,261	£64,741	£61,639

Source: DWP analysis of the ONS’ ‘The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, disposable income estimate’

Intermediate outcomes metrics

Reduce local variations in employment rates (people aged 18 to 66)

Data from the Annual Population Survey (APS) shows considerable variation in local authority^{[footnote 12]} employment rates. The gap between the bottom decile and the median is currently 7.1% pts. After a noticeable narrowing of the gap in 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, it started to trend upwards and is back to where it was in 2009 to 2010.

Figure 3: Local authorities employment rate gap between bottom decile and median for people aged 18 to 66.

Year	Percentage points gap
2009 to 2010	7.1
2011 to 2012	6.9
2013 to 2014	6.7
2015 to 2016	6.9
2017 to 2018	6.1
2019 to 2020	5.6
2021 to 2022	5.6
2023 to 2024	7.1

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS’ Annual Population Survey^{[footnote 13]}

Figure 4: Variation in local authority employment rate - people aged 18 to 66

Decile	2009 to 2010	2011 to 2012	2013 to 2014	2015 to 2016	2017 to 2018	2019 to 2020	2021 to 2022	2023 to 2024
1st decile	62.9%	63.3%	65.4%	66.9%	68.9%	70.0%	69.8%	68.3%
2nd decile	65.9%	65.4%	67.5%	69.1%	71.0%	71.8%	71.8%	71.3%
3rd decile	67.4%	67.4%	69.1%	71.3%	72.3%	73.5%	73.2%	73.0%
4th decile	68.8%	68.6%	70.5%	72.9%	73.8%	74.6%	74.6%	74.2%
5th decile	70.1%	70.2%	72.1%	73.8%	75.0%	75.6%	75.4%	75.4%
6th decile	71.9%	71.5%	73.4%	74.9%	76.2%	76.6%	76.9%	76.3%
7th decile	72.6%	73.0%	74.5%	76.2%	77.2%	77.6%	77.7%	78.3%
8th decile	73.7%	74.3%	75.9%	77.5%	78.4%	78.8%	79.1%	79.9%
9th decile	76.1%	76.2%	77.7%	78.9%	80.3%	80.4%	81.0%	81.0%
10th decile	80.6%	79.4%	82.0%	83.6%	84.8%	85.1%	88.3%	86.0%

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS’ Annual Population Survey

Reduce health-related economic inactivity (people aged 18 to 66).

Economic inactivity due to long-term sickness has been trending upwards among people aged 18 to 66 since 2019^{[footnote 14]}. It is currently at 6.8%, 1.6% pts above pre-covid (5.2%).

Figure 5: Economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, people aged 18 to 66

Date	LT sick inactive as a percentage of all 18 to 66
Apr to Jun 2005	6.1%
Jan to Mar 2010	5.7%
Oct to Dec 2014	5.2%
Jul to Sep 2019 (Discontinuity)	5.2 %
Apr to Jun 2024	7.0%

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey

Reduce disability employment gap for people aged 18 to 66

The gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people, aged 18 to 66, has generally been reducing over time^{[footnote 15]}. It is currently at 30.1% pts, near historic low of 30.0% pts.

Figure 6: Disability employment rate gap, people aged 18 to 66.

Date	Percentage points gap
Apr to Jun 2013	35.6
Jan to Mar 2017	33.6
Oct to Dec 2018 (Discontinuity)	32.1
Oct to Dec 2020	31.0
Jul to Sep 2024	29.2

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey

 

Reduce the proportion of young people (18 to 24) not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The NEET rate^{[footnote 16]} for 18 to 24-year-olds has been trending upwards over the last 2 years. It is currently at 15.8%. This comes from publicly available ONS data.

Figure 7: proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), people aged 18 to 24

Date	NEET rate for people aged 18 to 24
Apr to Jun 2018	12.9%
Jul to Sep 2019	13.3%
Oct to Dec 2020	13.9%
Apr to Jun 2022 (Discontinuity)	12.5%
Jan to Mar 2022	12.2%
Apr to Jun 2023	13.5%
Jul to Sep 2024	15.6%

Source: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – Office for National Statistics

This outcome metric will be supported by the following metric being monitored as part of the Government’s Opportunity Mission to:

• increase the percentage of 16 to 21 year olds either in classroom-based education and training, or in a job which provides skills training in England
• the proportion of 16 to 21 year olds participating in education or training has gone up since 2000^{[footnote 17]}. There was noticeable increase post-COVID-19 pandemic which subsequently reduced. It was at 70.8% at the end of 2024

Figure 8: proportion of 16 to 21 year olds in education or training (England only)

Quarter	Age 16 to 21 %
2000Q4	65.4%
2003Q4	64.3%
2006Q4	64.3%
2009Q4	67.8%
2012Q4	68.4%
2015Q4	72.0%
2018Q4	69.9%
2019Q4 (LFS weighting discontinuity)	69.8%
2021Q4	75.9%
2024Q4	70.8%

Source: DfE analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey. Available on Explore education statistics - GOV.UK

Reduce the employment rate gap between lone parents and parents who are part of a couple for people aged 18 to 66

The employment rate gap between lone parents and parents in a couple is 21.4%. Lone parents’ employment rate has been consistently lower than coupled parents. This has been on a downward trend since 2006^{[footnote 18]}. Recent data appear to show the gap rising again.

Figure 9: parental employment rate gap between lone parents and parents in a couple – people aged 18 to 66.

Date	Percentage points gap
Apr to Jun 2006	24.5
Apr to Jun 2013	21.2
Jul to Sep 2017	14.8
Jan to Mar 2021	17.5
Jul to Sep 2023 (LFS weighting discontinuity)	*
Jul to Sep 2024	21.4

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey

Reduce percentage of coupled households where at least one parent is out of work - people aged 18 to 66.

In July to September 2024, 24.1% of all coupled families had at least one parent out of work. There has been a gradual decline in this figure since 2016^{[footnote 19]}. There is evidence showing that reducing this has significant positive impacts on child poverty, other things being equal.

Figure 10: Percentage of coupled households where at least one parent is out of work - people aged 18 to 66

Date	Percentage
Apr to Jun 2016	29.8%
Jan to Mar 2019	26.7%
Oct to Dec 2021	25.7%
Jul to Sep 2023 (LFS data discontinuity)	*
Jul to Sep 2024	23.2%

Source: Internal DWP analysis of the ONS Labour Force Survey

Increase employment rate of women aged 18 to 66

The employment rate of women aged 18 to 66 is 72.3%. This is slightly lower pre-COVID (72.5%) and 7.1% pts lower than the employment rate of men at 79.4%.

Figure 11: Employment rate of women aged 18 to 66

Date	18 to 66 female employment rate
Jan to Mar 2005	66.3%
Apr to Jun 2008	66.6%
Jul to Sep 2011	65.4%
Oct to Dec 2014	68.3%
Jan to Mar 2018	70.8%
Apr to Jun 2021	72.2%
Jul to Sep 2024	72.5%

Future publications

DWP will provide an annual update outlining recent trends in these metrics.

Data sources

Some of the metrics in this publication are estimated from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) or its counterpart the Annual Population Survey (APS), which are large, representative surveys of UK households collected by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). The LFS and APS provide detailed, rich information on the characteristics of people in the labour market and are valuable data source to monitor our Get Britain Working reforms on different groups and areas. However, the ONS note that there is ‘increased volatility in LFS estimates, resulting from smaller achieved sample sizes, which means that estimates of change should be treated with additional caution^{[footnote 20]}.’

The ONS at the end of 2023 introduced a LFS recovery plan^{[footnote 21]} to mitigate these issues, which has seen sample sizes begin to increase throughout 2024^{[footnote 22]}, though the data needs careful interpretation as recovery measures continue to take full effect.

1. See Plan for Change – GOV.UK ↩

2. See Get Britain Working White Paper – GOV.UK ↩

3. See Labour Market Advisory Board – GOV.UK ↩

4. In devolved nations, school leaving age is 16, but participation in education or training remains high. See for example: Annual Participation Measure ↩

5. See State Pension Age timetable – GOV.UK ↩

6. (current) physical or mental health condition(s) or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more; and the condition(s) or illness(es) reduce their ability to carry out day-to-day activities ↩

7. UK-wide metric. ↩

8. England only metric ↩

9. 3.A ‘Women in the economy’, pg. 72 Autumn Budget 2024 – HC 295 ↩

10. See Labour Force Survey (LFS) QMI – Office for National Statistics ↩

11. This measure is adjusted into real terms using: GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP October 2024 – (Autumn Budget 2024) GOV.UK ↩

12. Local authorities are defined as unitary local authorities / local authorities counties in the UK ↩

13. See Annual population survey (APS) QMI – Office for National Statistics ↩

14. Data from January to March 2019 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. ↩

15. Data from January to March 2019 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. ↩

16. Data from January to March 2019 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. ↩

17. Data from January to March 2019 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. ↩

18. Data from October to December 2023 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. Estimates for July to September 2023 are unavailable due to quality concerns. ↩

19. Data from October to December 2023 onward has been ‘reweighted’ by the ONS to reflect newer population estimates, causing a step change discontinuity in estimates before and after this period. Estimates for July to September 2023 are unavailable due to quality concerns ↩

20. See Labour market overview, UK – Office for National Statistics ↩

21. See Labour Force Survey: planned improvements and its reintroduction – Office for National Statistics ↩

22. See Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring reports – Office for National Statistics ↩