Last reviewed 15 November 2023
New analysis by the TUC shows that the pay gap between non-disabled and disabled workers is now 14.6% — higher than it was 10 years ago.
Non-disabled workers earn around a sixth (14.6%) more than disabled workers, while disabled women face an even bigger pay penalty of 30% or £3.73 an hour.
The analysis reveals that the pay gap for disabled workers across the board is £1.90 an hour, or £66.50 per week which is more than the average household spends on their weekly food shop (£62.20).
Although it has fallen since last year, when it was £2.05 (17.2%) an hour, the new analysis shows that the disability pay gap is now higher than it was a decade ago (13.2% in 2013/14) when the first comparable pay data was recorded.
The research also shows that the disability pay gap persists for workers for most of their careers. At age 25 the pay gap is £1.73 an hour hitting a high of £3.18 an hour, or £111.30 a week, for disabled workers aged 40–44.
Furthermore, disabled workers are twice as likely as non-disabled workers to be unemployed (6.7% compared to 3.3%).
TUC General Secretary, Paul Nowak, said: “Being disabled shouldn’t mean you are given a lower wage — or left out of the jobs market altogether. Too many disabled people are held back at work, not getting the reasonable adjustments they need to do their jobs.”
He pointed out that disabled workers are more likely than non-disabled workers to be on zero-hours contracts (4.5% to 3.4%) with disabled BME women nearly three times as likely as non-disabled white men to be on these insecure contracts (6% to 2.2%).