Disabled workers bombshell: paid less than colleagues | Personal Finance | Finance
Disabled workers are typically paid £13.69 an hour (Image: Getty)
Britain’s workplaces have been revealed to offer a raw deal to disabled workers, who are being paid £2 an hour – 12.7 percent – less than non-disabled colleagues in new figures.
Disabled workers are typically paid £13.69 an hour which compares to £15.69 for their non-disabled colleagues, equating to a pay gap adding up to thousands of pounds a year.
Assuming a 40-hour week, a disabled worker would be paid £28,475 a year, which would be some £3,952 less than a non-disabled employee.
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), found the situation is far worse for those with some conditions such as autism, with a pay gap of 27.9 percent.
Dr Hannah Dennis, Director and Clinical Psychologist at HRD Consultancy, told Newspage: “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.”
National disability charity Sense said the gap is “fundamentally unfair” and has “got no better over the past decade”.
Harriet Edwards, head of policy at Sense, said: “It’s infuriating that disabled people still earn significantly less than non-disabled people. This is fundamentally unfair and the persistent gap has got no better over the past decade.
“Disabled people deserve better. Sense research found that over half (52 percent) of people with complex disabilities in work said they’d taken a less challenging role because their needs as a disabled person were not being met by employers. That shameful lack of support needs to change.”
Jasmine Miller, Director & Founder at Jasmine Miller Coaching, said: “These figures paint a picture of systemic inequality that continues to affect disabled individuals, particularly those with more pronounced impairments.
“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.”
She added: “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 percent.
“Particularly alarming is the wider gap for disabled men (15.5 percent) compared to women (9.6%) and the significantly higher pay gaps for individuals with autism (27.9 percent), epilepsy (26.9 percent), and severe learning difficulties (20.3 percent).”
The inequality on pay has serious knock-on effects in terms living standards, but also creates issues in terms of the ability to borrow and, for example, buy a property. This is exacerbated by the fact that disabled people face extra costs, in terms of equipment or, for example, household energy bills.
Carol Vickers, the owner at Created by Carol a jewellery design business, who is disabled herself, said: “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.
Inequality in Britain’s workplaces have been revealed (Image: Getty)
“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 £1,010 per month to reach the same standard of living as a non-disabled person – according to Scope’s disability price tag report.”
She added: “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.”
Matthew Knight, Independent Strategist and Freelancing Advocate at Freelancing Support, said the problems go far wider than the ONS figures suggest.
He said: “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.”