Persons with disabilities: opportunities for labour inclusion and social protection through the life course

Projects funded under this destination should contribute to the following expected impacts in the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027^[1]:

• Strengthening social and economic resilience and sustainability
• Boosting inclusive growth and reducing vulnerabilities effectively

The expected impacts reflect the two-pronged nature of the destination. On the one hand, research funded by this destination will improve the understanding of how the macro drivers of change (technological change, climate change, new global trade patterns, along with migration, human mobility, and other demographic changes) impact society and inform policy makers on how to mitigate negative consequences and harness newly created opportunities. The results obtained should improve the understanding of the interplay between different drivers of change and their social, ethical, political, and economic implications. The improved understanding of these challenges and their economic, social, and distributional impacts will fill in the research gaps while also inform the design and assessment of policies addressing existing and emerging challenges, including in the areas of education, well-being and mental health.

On the other hand, research and innovation investment should be geared towards deepening the understanding of how ongoing changes impact society, with a specific emphasis on the key objectives of boosting inclusive and sustainable growth and effectively reducing vulnerabilities, poverty and inequalities. This knowledge should provide valuable insights to policymakers to design and assess policies that effectively address vulnerabilities while capitalizing on emerging opportunities.

Overall, the destination’s activities will help promote the EU’s inclusive growth, resilience, and fair transition towards climate neutrality, by providing solid analytical evidence to implementing actions related to:

• The European Pillar of Social Rights, and its Action Plan with its three ambitious targets (78% employment rate, 60% of population with yearly training, and reduction of the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030)
• the European Education Area and its EU-level 2030 targets
• The Union of Skills (including envisaged initiatives on skills portability and the European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training, the Pact for Skills and the Skills Agenda)
• the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy and the European Affordable Housing Plan
• The Union of Equality policies and strategies, including:
  • the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030^[2] (in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities^[3]); the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882), and the European Disability Card
  • The Gender Equality Strategy 2020 – 2025 and the Directive combating violence against women and domestic violence
  • EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025
  • The Strategic EU Framework for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2020-2030
  • The LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025
• The Communication on Demographic change in Europe: a toolbox for action
• The EU’s just transition policy framework, in line with the 2040 Climate Target Plan, including the Just Transition Mechanism, the Social Climate Fund, and the Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality
• The new Pact for European Social Dialogue and the Council Recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the EU.
• The European Child Guarantee
• The Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income
• The Commission Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health
• The new Pact on Asylum and Migration and its accompanying actions, initiatives and legislation.

A new European Partnership on Social Transformations and Resilience^[4], focused on the social sciences and humanities (SSH), will be launched to make use of their potential to foster resilience, fairness and inclusiveness, and social cohesion in the light of changes in climate and environment, technology, demography, and unexpected shocks. The Partnership will fund research and innovation activities in the areas of the future of work, modernisation of social protection and essential services, education and skills development and a fair transition towards climate neutrality.

Applicants are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the services offered by the current and future EU-funded European Research Infrastructures, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) domain^[5].

Where applicable, proposals should leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), as well as data from relevant Data Spaces. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this research is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this Destination in line with EU priorities, international cooperation is encouraged whenever relevant in the proposed topics.

Research on social and economic transformations funded by topics in the present Work Programme will build upon its predecessors in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe and further push the boundaries of state-of-the-art knowledge. It will do so by further engaging with a vast array of stakeholders, not limited to universities and research centres, but also extending to social partners (trade unions and business organizations), civil society organizations, practitioners, VET providers, and SMEs.

The destination will rely on a carefully balanced mix of actions, to bring together a balanced and appropriate set of stakeholders to achieve research of the highest quality, while aiming at providing recommendations to policymakers at European, national, regional and local level that could have a beneficial societal and economic impact. In order to facilitate the latter, it will maximise the feedback to policy and the dissemination and exploitation of research and innovation results and practices in the domain of social and economic transformations.

[1] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6abcc8e7-e685-11ee-8b2b-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A52021DC0101

[3] https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities

[4] see topic HORIZON-CL2-2026-02-TRANSFO-01 in this Work Programme

[5] https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/ for example CESSDA - Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to two of the following expected outcomes:

• Provide implementable, quality, disaggregated and evidence-based data to policymakers and research and innovation stakeholders to bridge the employment gap between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.
• Deliver scalable and replicable inclusive person-centred interventions addressing the situation of persons with disabilities in relation to the labour market in a manner that they are transferable to the new contexts of work, studying and comparing their impacts.
• Develop innovative policy approaches in the area of social protection for persons with disabilities to compensate the cost associated to disabilities, removing barriers for their participation and encourage them to engage in employment in the open labour market, while at the same time guaranteeing them an adequate level of social protection.

Scope:

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities^[1] recognises the right to work for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others (Art. 27). However, only half of the 42.8 million persons with disabilities of working age in the EU is employed, this being translated into an employment gap in which only 51% of persons with disabilities are employed compared to 75% of persons without disabilities^[2]. In addition, persons with disabilities are overrepresented among those inactive in the labour market, not looking for a job due to different barriers, such as a generalised lack of accessibility of workplaces, inaccessible transportation, built environment and infrastructure, insufficient or inadequate reasonable accommodation, lack of flexibility in employment, administrative burdens or incompatibility with disability benefits.

Thus, new and innovative ways of inclusion into the labour market of persons with disabilities need to be explored and tested with the objective to reduce the gaps between persons with and without disabilities, reduce inequalities and promote their social and economic inclusion on an equal basis with others. An assessment of the benefits, including for society and the economy, of employment of persons with disabilities could be carried out.

Research (including through SSH disciplines) should address the disadvantages and barriers faced for increasing inclusion in the labour market of persons with disabilities, collect data on proved effective measures to improve the situation, and provide a thorough analysis of the impact and efficacy of existing policy measures, such as positive discrimination provisions, quotas, employment targets and others. The role of employers, their concerns and good practices for labour inclusion of persons with disabilities needs to be assessed, as well as reasons to circumvent obligations to include employees with disabilities. Moreover, discrimination against persons with disabilities during the hiring process and the impact on job retention could be addressed.

Research should also take stock of existing accessible working environments tools and equipment, as well as reasonable accommodation tools and support at work already provided or still needed and their impact on the employment of persons with disabilities. The role of accessible digital services, digital skills and assistive technologies and other advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential for advancing the labour inclusion of persons with disabilities may be explored.

Different types of work - adapted to the often-hidden talents of persons with disabilities - should be explored, taking into account their competences and abilities, disability type, level, sex and age. The transition from supported/sheltered employment to the open labour market, including different models such as self-employment and entrepreneurship, re- and upskilling, vocational education and training, could be considered, looking for sustainable pathways to facilitate the process and to be maintained in the long run.

Persons with disabilities are at a higher risk of poverty due to insufficient labour market participation in combination with insufficient social protection and insufficient compensation for extra costs related to disability, including family-based care. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises the right to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability (Art. 28).

Thus, research is expected to address the issue of social protection through the life course of persons with disabilities, including different aspects such as disability benefits, possible in-kind benefits, coverage of extra costs associated to disabilities, the transition to pension age for persons with disabilities or acquiring disabilities after pension age. Attention should be paid to measures that disincentivise or create barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities in the open labour market. Proposals should consider also the in and out of employment and the possible compatibility with other benefits, such as disability benefits avoiding the benefit trap. The benefit trap needs to be addressed since it may act as a deterrent to take employment for persons with disabilities, who may lose their disability benefits and may be led to in-work poverty.

Data collection is essential to understand the employment participation of persons with disabilities and remains a challenge to collect data disaggregated per type of disability, sex, and age. Thus, applicants are encouraged to ensure harmonised data collection by using Eurostat standards and existing international sets of questions in their areas of research. Applicants are encouraged to involve persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, stakeholders, policymakers and public authorities, social services, citizens and civil society organisations, end-users and service providers.

Projects are also encouraged to explore potential complementarities with projects funded under the Cluster 2 topic HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-9: “Good practices for increased autonomy of persons with disabilities, including physical, mental, intellectual and sensory disabilities” and Cluster 1 topic HORIZON-HLTH-2025-03-STAYHLTH-01-two-stage: “Improving the quality of life of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families”.

[1] Article 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities: Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities

[2] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3e1e2228-7c97-11eb-9ac9-01aa75ed71a1/language-en