The median pay for disabled employees stood at £10.63 an hour in 2018, below that of the £12.11 an hour rate for non-disabled employees, a pay gap of 12.2%, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The disability pay gap was wider for men than for women, this was largely driven by higher employment rates for non-disabled men compared with non-disabled women.

Meanwhile, among regions, in 2018, London had the widest disability pay gap at 15.3%, and the narrowest pay gap was in Scotland, at 8.3%.

ONS data also showed that the disability pay gap varied with age. Pay gaps were at their narrowest for the youngest age groups (16-24).

“Employees within these age groups may be employed in more casual employment or will be at a relatively early stage of their career where average pay tends to be lower,” ONS stated.

The widest gaps were seen for employees aged in their 30s and 40s, where average pay typically peaks for most employees.

Disabled employees with a mental impairment had the largest pay gap at 18.6%, while for those with a physical impairment the pay gap was 9.7% and those with other impairments had the narrowest gap, at 7.4%.

ONS added that around a quarter of the difference in mean pay could be accounted for by factors such as occupation and qualification.

According to the data, 18.9% of people aged 16 to 64 years in the UK were disabled in 2018. Women were more likely to be disabled than men, at 21.1% and 16.6%, respectively.

Angela Matthews, Head of policy and research at Business Disability Forum, told the BBC,  "Disabled workers are not 'one group'. Some people with disabilities do not experience many barriers in work, and others experience many, multiple barriers.”

"But we know that unjustified attitudes about what various groups of disabled people can and can't do are still widespread, and affect many employment-related issues, including equal pay, bonus pay, and pay increases," Matthews said.