Originally published here.

This report looks primarily at the disability pay gap, the difference between the average hourly pay of disabled and non-disabled people, using the Equality Act (EA)1 definition. We also consider the disability employment gap, which is the difference between the employment rates of Equality Act (EA) disabled and non-disabled people.2 Disability remains a significant barrier to gaining and staying within employment. But this report shows that disabled people face double discrimination. They are less likely to have a paid job but even when they do, disabled people earn substantially less than their nondisabled peers.

The UK has a persistent disability employment gap which is currently over 30 percentage points

The disability employment gap3 is one of the major indicators of the various employment inequalities disabled people face. The UK has a persistent disability employment gap which has been slow to close. A look at the past four years does show some improvement, with an increase of 595,786 EA disabled people aged 16-64 being employed. However, a comparison with the employment rate of non-disabled people shows there is still much more work to be done to achieve more equal levels of employment. In Q2 2017 there were 3,492,400 disabled people in employment. This means that 49.2 per cent of disabled people between the age of 16 and 64 are in employment. In the same quarter the employment rate for non-disabled people was 80.6 per cent, giving a disability employment gap of 31.4 percentage points.

People with different impairments experience different levels of access to the jobs market

Although the total percentage of EA disabled people employed is 49.2 per cent, this is not uniform across groups of disabled people with different impairments. The Labour Force Survey (LFS)4 shows that disabled people with some impairment types have far lower levels of employment; this includes people with learning difficulties (14.8 per cent), speech impediments (20.4 per cent), epilepsy (33.6 per cent), mental illness, phobias or panics (33.7 per cent), arms, hands (38.4 per cent) progressive illness e.g. cancer, MS, HIV (45.2 per cent), depression, bad nerves (46.4 per cent), heart, blood pressure, circulation (48.2 per cent) and difficulty seeing (48.3 per cent).5 Individuals with these impairments face greater barriers to accessing the job market and their employment inequalities are more substantial. Far more needs to be done to ensure that the barriers to employment faced by disabled people with these impairments are addressed.

Policy Recommendations

Government and employers must take steps to ensure that disabled people who want to work are able to do so, and to address the pay gap for disabled workers. Below we set out key policy recommendations for change. The government should consult on the introduction of a statutory requirement for employers to report on their disability pay gaps and employment rates, which must be accompanied by targeted action plans identifying the steps employers will take to address any identified gaps, including ensuring employees with hidden disabilities feel able to disclose their disability. These action plans must be produced in consultation with recognised trade unions. The government must publish statistical information on the scale of the disability pay gap to increase awareness of the gap. This information should be for full-time and part-time workers, broken down by gender, region and occupational groups. The statutory right to request flexible working should be extended to become a day one right for all jobs. The government must ensure Access to Work is funded appropriately so all eligible people can access their full entitlement. In addition, they must remove the cap on how much can be claimed which currently prevents many deaf people and those with high-level needs from accessing appropriate support. Cuts to disabled people’s financial support (Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PiP)) should be stopped and reversed. These cuts make it harder for disabled people to survive and even harder to move towards accessing work.14 Employers should consult with disabled staff and their trade unions on the best way to remove barriers and address the disability employment and pay gaps, in keeping with the notion that disabled people themselves should be able to determine the solutions to the issues they face. Employers should also consult and work closely with recognised trade unions. Employers must do more to meet their Equality Act obligations to put in place reasonable adjustments for disabled workers. This can involve removing physical barriers to employment and/or providing extra support for a disabled worker. Employers should record time off because of a disability separately from non-disability sick leave. This would recognise the fact that some disabled people may have different and higher forms of sickness absence. Employers should advertise more jobs on a flexible and/or part-time basis regardless of seniority/grade/level.

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