Ministers to push ahead on disability pay gap reporting, while Tories describe plans as ‘grievance-mongering’

The government is to push ahead with its delayed plans to force large employers to report on the size of their disability pay gap.

The plans were first announced in the king’s speech in July 2024, and a consultation was held between March and June last year.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the Office for Equality and Opportunity finally published its response to the consultation on how to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for employers with 250 or more staff.

Analysis of responses found 87 per cent of those who took part agreed that large employers – which already have to report on their gender pay gaps – should also have to report on their disability pay gaps.

The government said the new laws will also require employers to report on the overall make-up of their workforce by ethnicity and disability and will force them to publish action plans to tackle any pay gaps.

The new laws will apply to private and voluntary sector employers in England, Scotland and Wales; public sector bodies in England; and some public authorities that operate across Britain.

The Scottish and Welsh governments will be able to make pay gap decisions relating to their own public bodies.

The Conservative party yesterday said the Labour government was “piling even more red tape onto employers because of their obsession with identity politics” and described pay gap reporting as “state-sponsored grievance-mongering”, while promising to scrap any new pay gap laws if they ever regain power.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) reported last November that the average difference in hourly pay between disabled and non-disabled workers was £2.24 an hour (or 15.5 per cent), the equivalent of more than £4,000 a year for full-time workers.

An impact assessment on the proposals, published by the government this week alongside the consultation response, said that Office for National Statistics figures showed pay gaps differed across impairment types, with those experiencing the most significant pay gaps being disabled employees who are autistic, have epilepsy, or have “severe or specific learning difficulties”.

The impact assessment also said that, if the pay gap plans “have their intended effect”, it should financially benefit “lower paid disabled people and individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds”.

Labour pledged to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting for large employers in its 2024 election manifesto.

Seema Malhotra, minister for equalities, and Sir Stephen Timms, minister for social security and disability, said in the response to the consultation: “Ethnic minority and disabled people are less likely to be in work, less likely to be promoted and on average, paid less than other employees.

“This is bad for equality, bad for business and ultimately, bad for Britain.

“But we cannot root out this problem until we can fully understand it.”

Sir Stephen added yesterday: “Disabled people deserve the same chance as everyone else to be rewarded fairly at work, but the fact is that pay gaps exist.

“Pay gap reporting will give organisations the data they need to reduce these gaps and improve fairness and inclusivity in the workplace.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Everyone deserves to be paid equally for the job they do.

“But too often black and ethnic minority workers and disabled workers are paid less for doing the same job as their colleagues.

“The government’s commitment to ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting is a welcome and vital step forward.

“It’s a common-sense way to deal with glaring inequalities in our labour market.

“If we are serious about tackling inequality at work and closing pay gaps these reforms cannot come soon enough.

“That’s why the government should announce the bill in the forthcoming king’s speech to legislate in the next parliamentary session.”

Christos Tsaprounis, people and culture director at Autotrader, said: “We started reporting our disability pay gap because we believe transparency and accountability are essential if we want to build a workplace where everyone can be at their best.

“Publishing the data helps us understand where representation and progression aren’t yet where they should be, track whether our actions are working, and keep focusing on the systemic changes that create a truly inclusive culture.

“As the UK moves towards making disability pay gap reporting mandatory, we will continue to report voluntarily – and we’d encourage other employers to do the same.

“Collect the data, share it openly, learn from it, and use it to drive meaningful change.”