Disability workforce and pay gap reporting

Disability workforce and pay gap reporting

Welcome to the disability workforce and pay gap reporting hub page, the hub page of our lively Disability Data Monitoring Working Group. This working group drive our policy and research work on disability workforce and pay gap reporting.

On this page, you will find our current policy and research work on measuring disability related diversity, inclusion, and pay in the workplace. View our guidance, find out the latest on our disability data reporting research projects, view our blogs and media articles on the topic, and find out more about the working group itself.

About the Disability Data Monitoring Working Group

This group started in 2021 as a short-term working group, and it has stayed together ever since. The group is friendly and supportive of one another, respectful during debates, and all group members are committed to improving the experience of disability workforce data practices in their organisations. This is not a ‘sit back and listen group’. Group members are chatty, enthusiastic to contribute, and share openly with the group what they are working or experiencing. Meetings are therefore not recorded and are carried out with mutually agreed confidentiality among all group members.

The group has historically met only during consultation and project periods, but now meets everyone other month. The group is currently working on the Government’s disability pay gap consultation and on the equal pay element of the Government’s call for evidence on equality law.

All meetings take place via Microsoft Teams. This working group is for Partners and Members of BDF only. To join the group, please speak to your BDF Business Partner who can sign you up. You could also contact the policy and research team at policy@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk

Please note this working group is for data analysts working on diversity reporting, public policy and regulation, HR, and diversity and inclusion in their organisations.

New research: Disability workforce and pay gap reporting

Our long-term research on disability workforce and pay gap reporting covers:

• The challenges employees experience when collecting disability workforce and pay gap data.
• The unintended consequences for disabled employees.
• The role of Board and director level requirements to report figures.
• Implications for global disability workforce data collection.
• What disabled employees feel about the language used and culture created around collecting and reporting data.
• Collecting data that really matters for creating meaningful change for disabled employees.’

The impact of mandatory reporting requirements on global organisations

At BDF’s global conference in November 2024, our Director of Public and Policy and Research presented insights from global organisations on how they had been navigating data collection challenges that emerge from the UK. Read the blog here: How inclusive is disability inclusion across the globe?

Our workforce and pay gap research in the media

Our brilliant Disability Data Monitoring Working Group is the ‘engine’ behind our work in this area which has attracted many conference presentations and HR media attention. Some examples are as follows:

• On valuing diversity numbers over human experience, in People Management in June 2024: ‘As an inclusion profession we are so focused on targets that we’ve forgotten humans’
• On whether measuring disability data really does help us achieve inclusion, in Personnel Today, November 2021: Does measuring disability data really help us achieve workplace inclusion?

The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

The Government has presented a Bill to Parliament which includes the provision to mandate employers with over 250 employees to report their disability pay gap. We have been exploring the unintended consequences of disability pay gap reporting with the Disability Data Monitoring Working Group alongside feedback alongside disabled employees. You can read our blog on why disability pay gap reporting may not be the answer to increasing employment opportunities for disabled people:

• Why disability pay gap reporting may not lead to increasing employment opportunities for disabled people

Guidance: Beginning meaningful disability workplace reporting

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Business Disability Forum (BDF) has worked together to create guidance for employers to start collecting disability related workforce data. At the following links, you will find information about what to consider before you begin, how to plan for collecting data, and information about the wider context of disability workforce reporting.

• Disability workforce reporting: A practical guide for people professionals (October 2023)
• The case for disability workforce reporting (October 2023)

Consultation response (2021): Disability workforce reporting consultation

In 2021, the UK Government published a consultation to consider whether employers with over 250 employees should be required to report the number of disabled people they employ. Measuring disability in this way in workforces has remained similar for almost two decades, so we felt we should challenge how much reporting has helped further inclusion so far.

You can read our full consultation response below, published in April 2022. The Government are currently analysing the responses to the consultation.