End gender, ethnicity, and disability pay gaps

Kemi Badenoch, Anneliese Dodds, Christine Jardine, Ria Patel, Kirsten Oswald, Liz Saville-Roberts

Over 50 years since the UK first legislated equal pay for equal work, women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities continue to be paid less for the same work. Not enough is being done by governments or employers to change this.

  • A 2020 report estimated that at the current rate of progress “it will take almost 200 years before the gender pay gap is eliminated.” This is too long to wait.
  • There is not enough data on the ethnicity pay gap due to a lack of mandatory reporting; one report indicates that it will be over 50 years before employers even know their ethnicity pay gap.
  • The disability pay gap, far from closing, has grown since 2014 and shows no sign of closing.

It is safe to say that there is no indication these pay gaps will close without action.

According to data from ONS, the median gender pay gap for all employees in the UK currently stands at 14.9 percent. The most recent data shows a 23.8 percent ethnicity pay gap in London. The aggregated disability pay gap was 13.8 percent in 2021. Aggregation hides a wide range of inequitable experiences for minoritised ethnic groups and disabled people.

We support the members of the Equal Pay Alliance calling on all political parties to:

  • Commit to reducing income inequality by closing existing pay gaps.
  • Strengthen and extend gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting in the UK
  • Increase employee and worker rights around pay transparency

Rhetoric is not enough.



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To: Kemi Badenoch, Anneliese Dodds, Christine Jardine, Ria Patel, Kirsten Oswald, Liz Saville-Roberts
From: [Your Name]

​Over 50 years since the UK first legislated equal pay for equal work, women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities continue to be paid less for the same work. Not enough is being done by governments or employers to change this.

A 2020 report estimated that at the current rate of progress “it will take almost 200 years before the gender pay gap is eliminated.” This is too long to wait.

There is not enough data on the ethnicity pay gap due to a lack of mandatory reporting; one report indicates that it will be over 50 years before employers even know their ethnicity pay gap.

The disability pay gap, far from closing, has grown since 2014 and shows no sign of closing.

It is safe to say that there is no indication these pay gaps will close without action. ​

According to data from ONS, the median gender pay gap for all employees in the UK currently stands at 14.9 percent. The most recent data shows a 23.8 percent ethnicity pay gap in London. The aggregated disability pay gap was 13.8 percent in 2021. Aggregation hides a wide range of inequitable experiences for minoritised ethnic groups and disabled people​.

We the undersigned, support the Equal Pay Alliance's manifesto asking all political parties to:

Commit to reducing income inequality by closing existing pay gaps.

Strengthen and extend gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting in the UK​

Increase employee and worker rights around pay transparency​​​

Rhetoric is not enough.​