Call for mandatory reporting

The TUC has called on the government to make disability pay gap reporting mandatory, following a submission to the United Nations from the Equality and Human Rights Commission showing disabled people remain at high risk of poverty and low pay.

The EHRC report is a seven-year update to the UN on the government’s progress in improving the lives of disabled people in the UK. It finds “no”, “little” or “limited” progress on six of the 11 recommendations it made in 2016, which included measures related to disabled people’s rights to independent living, to standard of living and social protections, and to work and employment.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak responded with a demand for mandatory disability pay gap reporting “to shine a light on inequality at work”.

“We know more than three million disabled workers earn less than £15 an hour,” he said. “They are also more likely to be on zero- hours contracts and are twice as likely as non-disabled workers to be unemployed. That’s just not good enough.

“Disabled workers shouldn’t be employed on a lower wage or on worse terms and conditions – or excluded from the jobs market altogether. Let’s put an end to low-pay Britain and get to a £15 per hour minimum wage as soon as possible.

“Without these changes, millions of disabled workers will continue to be consigned to years of lower pay and in-work poverty.”