There have been calls for many years to make ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting compulsory for firms with 250 or more employees, just as gender pay gap reporting is now. Now in a new report, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found that the disability pay gap has widened over the last year.
Disability Pay Gap Report
In their new report, the TUC found that:-
- The disability pay gap has increased from 16.5% last year to £17.2% this year, an increase of 0.7%. That represents a gap of £2.05 per hour, which equates to £3,731.00 per annum on a 35 hour week. According to the TUC, the gap is such that it "means that disabled people effectively work for free for the last 54 days of the year."
- The gap is at it widest amongst female disabled workers, who earn 35% less than non-disabled men, a disability pay gap of £3.93 per hour, which equates to £7,144.00 per annum on a 35 hour week
- The disability pay gap peaks amongst workers aged 40-44 years of age (26.89%), who earn £3.55 per hour less than non-disabled workers in their age group, which equates to £6,461.00 per annum on a 35 hour week.
- The region of the country with the highest disability pay gap is the South East (22.1%), where disabled workers earn £2.78 per hour less than the non-disabled in that area, which equates to £5,051.00 per annum on a 35 hour week
- The sector of the economy with by far the largest disability pay gap is financial and insurance services, with an astonishing gap of 39%. This means that the disabled earn £5.90 per hour less than their non-disabled counterparts, which equates to £10,738.00 per annum on a 35 hour week
- 6.8% of disabled workers are unemployed, and the disabled are therefore twice as likely as the non-disabled to be unemployed, with just 3.4% of non-disabled workers out of work
- The main factors behind the disability pay gap are the fact that disabled workers are more likely to be working part-time and in low paid sectors of the economy, and in more junior roles compared to the non-disabled. Disabled people are also more likely to have left education earlier, but "even where disabled and non-disabled people have the same qualifications there is still a big pay gap" according to the report
Comparison With 2018
Back in 2018, the TUC found that the disability pay gap was 15%. Hence, in the 4 years between 2018 - 22, the gap has increased by 2.2%
Call To Make Disability Pay Gap Reporting Mandatory
In a report published back in 2018, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recommended that both ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting be made compulsory for organisations with 250 or more employees, just as gender pay gap reporting is now.
Transparency And Reporting A Spur To Act
The senior research fellow at the IPPR, Joe Dromey, stated at the time of publication of the aforementioned 2018 report that: "Gender pay reporting has been a big success. Transparency has driven the gender pay gap up the agenda, and it is spurring employers to act. We should build on this success with a radical extension of pay transparency. Broader transparency on gender, ethnicity and disability would help drive employer action to tackle these burning injustices."
Reaction To TUC Report
Commenting upon the findings of the new TUC report, the General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady, stated: "Everybody deserves a fair chance to get a job with decent pay. Being disabled should not mean you’re on a lower wage – or that you’re excluded from the jobs market altogether. It’s time to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting to shine a light on inequality at work. Without this, millions of disabled workers will be consigned to years of lower pay and in-work poverty."
Flexible Working
Frances O'Grady added: "During the pandemic, many disabled people were able to work flexibly or from home for the first time. We must ensure this continues – flexible workplaces are accessible workplaces and give everyone better work life balance. Ministers must change the law so that all jobs are advertised with flexible options clearly stated, and all workers have the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job."
