City Research Online

Abstract

Gender pay gap reporting has had significant positive effects in reducing the UK’s gender pay gap. Given this, our view is that if mandatory disability pay gap reporting is introduced along similar lines, it will have similarly positive effects in reducing the UK’s 12.7% disability pay gap.

However, both Disability@Work and the Institute of Directors believe that the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill needs to include mandatory disability employment as well as pay gap reporting. This would involve employers publishing on their own website the percentage of their workforce that is disabled, and also submitting this figure to the government to be published on an official government website. We believe that this would provide important contextual information in helping understand employers’ pay gap data, as well as having several other positive effects. Disability pay gap and employment reporting should therefore be considered to be complementary measures, both of which are important indicators of the presence of disability-related disadvantage.

Both Disability@Work and the Institute of Directors have advocated for mandatory disability employment reporting for several years. It is also a primary ask of the Disability Employment Charter, of which Disability@Work is a founder member. This has now been signed by more than 240 organisations including virtually all the UK’s large disability charities, a wide range of disabled people’s organisations, a growing number of large private sector employers, NHS Trusts and local authorities, and the country’s largest trade unions.

This demonstrates the widespread support for mandatory disability employment reporting across a range of stakeholders. Mandatory disability employment reporting is also supported by the Confederation of British Industry, the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, and the Centre for Social Justice Disability Commission. The previous government acknowledged the business case for disability employment reporting in developing inclusive workplace cultures and encouraging a more open approach. In what follows, we first outline the reasons why we believe the introduction of mandatory disability employment reporting would help enhance disability pay gap reporting. We then outline the further ways in which it would help address disability-related disadvantage. Following this, we outline our proposals for the design of a mandatory employment and pay gap reporting system. Finally, we discuss the importance of an employer narrative and propose a hybrid metric that takes both disability pay gap and employment reporting into account.

Publication Type:	Report
Additional Information:	e.g. © 2026 The Institute of Directors. Please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions for information on re-use.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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