Disability pay gap | Disabled staff work two months of the year for free

Disabled workers in the UK work an average of two months of the year for free, according to research from the TUC.

The news was revealed in the first-ever Disability Pay Gap Day (Monday this week) research, the purpose of which was to highlight the day of the year on which disabled workers stopped getting paid compared to the average non-disabled worker.

The current disability pay gap for all employees stands at 15.5%; this means that disabled people effectively log 57 days (or eight weeks) for free. The analysis also found that only around half (51.8%) of disabled people are in work, compared to more than four-fifths (81.6%) of non-disabled people – a gap of 29.8 percentage points.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady, said: “Everybody deserves a fair chance to get a job with decent pay. Being disabled should not exclude you from choosing to work. And it should not mean you’re put on a lower wage.