Urgent action needed to address the disability pay gap - Letter to Kemi Badenoch

Dear Kemi 

Urgent action needed to close the disability pay gap 

We are writing to you today, on Disability Pay Gap Day 2022, to call for urgent action on the disability pay gap.  
  
Today, 7 November 2022, is the day when the average Disabled worker stops getting paid for the rest of this year, compared to the average non-disabled worker.   

The disability pay gap has widened this year. Disabled workers are now earning £2.05 less per hour than non-disabled workers, up from £1.90 in 2021. That’s a pay gap of 17.2%, during a cost-of-living emergency when Disabled people are struggling to pay their bills.  
  
The disability pay gap means that this year Disabled workers will work the equivalent of 54 days without pay.  
  
We urge you to take action and to bring in mandatory disability pay gap reporting for all employers with more than 50 employees. This should be accompanied by a duty on employers to produce targeted action plans identifying the steps they will take to address any gaps identified.  
  
We are also calling for a statutory requirement for reporting and setting action plans for ethnicity and LGBT+ identities, and for Government to build on gender pay gap monitoring, by requiring action plans and changing the threshold for the reporting requirement from 250 employees, to 50.   
  
We also want your government to take action to ensure dignity, equality and respect for Disabled people at work and address the underlying causes of the pay gap. We need:  

• The National Minimum Wage to be raised to £15 an hour as soon as possible and a real pay rise for public sector workers.  

• A ban on zero-hours contracts by giving workers a right to a contract which reflects their normal hours of work.  

• A day one right to flexible working for all workers and a duty on employers to advertise possible flexible working options in job adverts.  

• A stronger legal framework for reasonable adjustments, with timely responses from employers, increased funding for the EHRC to enforce Disabled workers’ rights and substantial penalty for employers who fail to comply.   

• To make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (UNCRPD) enforceable within UK law.  

We look forward to hearing from you, and we would be very keen to meet with you to discuss tackling the disability pay gap.  

Yours sincerely,  

Frances O’Grady 

General Secretary