The UK-based Trades Union Congress is calling on the government to make it compulsory for employers to publish their disability pay gaps. It comes as a study from the union showed that the average pay gap for disabled workers in 2018 stood at 15.2%, the equivalent of £2,821 a year.

The TUC stated that far more needs to be done to remove the barriers facing disabled people in the workplace.

The study showed that the pay gap for people with mental illnesses (29.8%) and depression (26.3%) the pay gulf is even worse than the average disability pay gap.

The TUC stated that without a legally binding requirement on companies to publish their pay gaps (and set out what action they are taking to address them), progress on improving the disability pay gap will be too slow.

“TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady, commented, “Employers must be legally required to publish their disability employment and pay gaps. A light-touch, voluntary approach simply won't cut it. Large companies have to report their gender pay gaps. Disabled people deserve the same level of transparency.”

Minister for Disabled People, Sarah Newton MP said earlier this week that the UK’s recruitment sector has a “critical role in helping the government to achieve its target of getting one million more disabled people in work as soon as possible, but by 2027 at the very latest.”

Meanwhile,  government statistics published last week found that over 50% of people with disabilities of working age are in employment. Among non-disabled people, this figure stands at 81%.

The government’s data also showed that there were an estimated 3.9 million people of working age (16-64) with disabilities in employment in July-September 2018, meaning that around 120,000 more people with disabilities were in employment than a year previously.