Non-disabled employees earned an average of £15.69 per hour in 2023, while disabled employees were paid £13.69 – a gap of 12.7%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This level has remained “relatively the same” since 2014, the report notes.
For men, the gap was 15% less for disabled workers, with women earning 9.6% less on average than non-disabled workers.
The difference in disability levels also played a part in how much less employees would be paid. On average, workers who are considered to be limited a lot by their disability in their day-to-day activities received 17% less, compared to 11% less for those who were limited a little.
Further, workers with autism experienced the widest gap in pay, receiving more than a quarter (28%) less than those without it. Those with epilepsy and severe or specific learning difficulties were paid 27% and 20% less than non-disabled employees respectively.
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In 2023, Government statistics show there were 5.1 million people with a disability working in the UK. Of those with a disability, just over half (53%) were in employment, compared to over eight in 10 (82%) without a disability.
‘Fundamentally unfair’
Harriet Edwards, head of policy at Sense, said: “It’s infuriating that disabled people still earn significantly less than non-disabled people. This is fundamentally unfair and the persistent gap has got no better over the past decade.
“Disabled people deserve better. Sense research found that over half (52%) of people with complex disabilities in work said they’d taken a less challenging role because their needs as a disabled person were not being met by employers. That shameful lack of support needs to change.”
Edwards added: “And it needs to be made possible for disabled people to find new jobs in the first place, otherwise they will always be blocked from progressing and earning more. Providing screen readers and braille displays in job centres across the country, through a £5m assistive tech fund, would be a sensible and affordable start.”
