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Pay gap between disabled and non-disabled employees paints "a picture of systemic inequality"

ended 17. October 2024

The pay gap between disabled and non-disabled employees was 12.7% last year, with hourly pay of £15.69 for non-disabled employees and £13.69 for disabled employees — a figure one expert has slammed as painting “a picture of systemic inequality”. The data was published in a new report published today, Disability pay gaps in the UK: 2014 to 2023.

The report found the disability pay gap was wider for men (15.5%) than for women (9.6%), and for full-time employees (11.2%) than for part-time employees (4.1%). Employees who were limited a lot by their disability in their day-to-day activities had the widest disability pay gap (17.1%), followed by disabled employees who were limited a little (11.2%).

Disabled employees with autism experienced one of the widest pay gaps (27.9%), along with disabled employees with epilepsy (26.9%) and severe or specific learning difficulties (20.3%). The disability pay gap narrowed but did not disappear for most impairment types after adjusting for personal and work characteristics; pay gaps for employees with autism, difficulty in seeing, and severe or specific learning difficulties narrowed the most.

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Jasmine Miller
Director & Founder at Jasmine Miller Coaching
These figures paint a picture of systemic inequality that continues to affect disabled individuals, particularly those with more pronounced impairments. While the gap narrows slightly after adjusting for work and personal characteristics, it’s evident that employers need to do more to address these disparities. Tailored support for recruitment, progression and pay transparency are essential to ensure disabled workers are compensated. The latest report from the Office for National Statistics on disability pay gaps in the UK between 2014 and 2023 highlights concerning inequities in the workplace for disabled employees. Despite years of focus on diversity and inclusion, the overall pay gap between disabled and non-disabled employees remains substantial, at 12.7%. Particularly alarming is the wider gap for disabled men (15.5%) compared to women (9.6%) and the significantly higher pay gaps for individuals with autism (27.9%), epilepsy (26.9%), and severe learning difficulties (20.3%).
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Dr Hannah Dennis
Director / Clinical Psychologist at HRD Consultancy
Sadly, the figures published today reflect yet another area in which individuals with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual disabilities and autism, face discrimination. Far more needs to be done to address the support needs of these individuals to ensure that they are able to fairly access employment. In addition, workplaces need greater training and understanding of how they can become more inclusive. There are many benefits for workplaces being inclusive. Just as a healthy team needs to consist of various personalities and team styles, a workplace benefits from the diversity of neurodivergence and differing intellectual abilities.
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Matthew Knight
Independent Strategist and Freelancing Advocate at Freelancing.Support
The scale of the problem is larger than we can see, as this data only looks at employees. Many who face physical disability, chronic illinesses and mental health conditions, are often only able to work in self-employment — and businesses are not required to report on what they're paying freelancers. This leads to unreported gaps across many factors, such as gender and ethnicity, as well as neurodiversity and disability. This is why salary and day-rate transparency is so important, and why we ask all hirers to share the salary information on job postings. Women, people of colour and those with disabilities are more likely to take on lower paid work, if they're not aware of the market rate. Pay transparency helps everyone access work in a fairer way.
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Carol Vickers
Owner at Created by Carol
The Disability Pay Gap is indicative of a wider societal problem. Disabled people are excellent problem solvers, with the ability to think outside the box and yet employers are still anxious about employing us. The number of disabled people in senior roles is not representative of the population and many disabled people are still fighting against discriminatory recruitment and employment practices. This is compounded by the fact that a disabled person has to spend an additional £1010 per month to reach the same standard of living as a non-disabled person (Scope's disability price tag report). Our society is severely lacking when it comes to supporting disabled people to work and progress, instead forcing vulnerable people into poverty. While the new government has plans to monitor the Disability Pay Gap, similar monitoring has done little to resolve the Gender Pay Gap. The Equality Act needs to be properly enforced and, until this happens, nothing will change.