A truly shocking statistic was revealed at a TUC disabled workers conference: that redundancy rates have been almost two-thirds (62%) higher for disabled workers than their non-disabled colleagues. The figure comes from TUC analysis of Office of National Statistics data collected during the pandemic.
Another significant problem for this group included a lack of support through reasonable adjustments from their employer. Data from a Unison survey showed that half of disabled workers said they faced barriers to doing their job that could be removed through adjustments. However, over two-thirds had some or all of these adjustments refused whilst almost a quarter (23 per cent) had to wait a year or more to receive the adjustments they needed.
The TUC emphasised that employers who fail to make reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities, including adjustments to redundancy criteria and procedures, are carrying out a form of unlawful discrimination. They also called for mandatory disability pay gap reporting in order to close the growing gap in salary between workers who are disabled and those who are not.
