Issue - meetings

It was moved by Councillor Thomas, seconded by Councillor Halsall and after a debate it was unanimously:

RESOLVED: That

Council notes:

1.       the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has declared 31 October 2021 to be Disability Pay Gap Day.  The TUC used data from the Office of National Statistics Labour Force Survey to show disabled workers effectively work for free for the last 60 days (around 8 and a half weeks) of the year and stop getting paid on 1 November.  The study found that the pay gap for disabled workers was £3,800 per year with median hourly pay for a disabled worker £11.55, whilst for non-disabled workers it was £13.45.  This shows a Disability Pay Gap of 16.5%.  Disabled women face a bigger gap being paid on average 36% (£3.68 an hour, or around £6,700 a  year) less than non-disabled men.

2.       factors contributing to low pay are that disabled workers are over-represented in lower paid jobs like caring, leisure and other services and sales and customer services, and under-represented in senior and managerial roles.  Disabled workers have an increased likelihood of being in part time work, which is generally paid less than full-time jobs.  Some disabled people leave education earlier than non-disabled people, but even when disabled workers have the same or equivalent skill set as a non-disabled person they are still paid less.

3.       the TUC has asked government to make disability pay gap reporting mandatory for all employers with more than 50 employees, with a duty to produce targeted action plans identifying the stops they will take to address any gaps.

This Council believes:

1.       disabled workers should have equal parity with non-disabled workers and the disability pay gap must be reduced as far as possible; and

2.       the TUC are right to ask central government to make mandatory disability pay gap reporting mandatory and that Sefton Council should set a good example by reporting on any disability pay gap and produce targeted action plans to address identified gaps.

Council, therefore, is asked to:

(a)      request the Chief Executive of Sefton Council to commence disability pay gap reporting and to produce targeted action plans identifying the steps to be taken to address any gaps that may be identified as soon as possible, whilst recognising that the Council is a Disability Confident Employer and provides support for disabled employees through providing reasonable adjustments and Occupational Health support where necessary. The issues around reporting, support and the overall agenda should be taken to the Council’s Corporate Equalities Group; and

(b)      write to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Metro Mayor asking that the rest of the Liverpool City Region Authorities be encouraged to implement a policy of disability pay gap reporting.