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Think Work First: The transition from education to work for young disabled people Contents

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Chapter 6: Supporting employees: upholding workplace rights

145.Ensuring that young disabled people are able to enter the workforce and that their rights are upheld requires a clear legal framework, as well as mechanisms to enforce those rights and support for employees to engage effectively with those mechanisms. We heard that, with care and attention, this can work well. But for this to happen, there must be acceptance of the need for culture change within an organisation. At root, this requires a mutually reinforcing partnership between employers and the Government, with each driving improvements and providing constructive challenge. In this chapter, however, we explore the very real barriers that young disabled people can face when seeking to enforce their rights and what is needed to effect the cultural change necessary to remove these barriers.

Enforcement of rights

146.As with all employment rights, there is a clear roadmap for the enforcement of disabled people’s workplace rights. This starts with informal conversations with the employer, progressing to the submission of a formal grievance, undergoing mediation, conciliation and arbitration, and finally making a claim in the employment tribunal.

147.Many witnesses were, however, sceptical about the viability of the existing enforcement mechanisms. Unison argued that only “a very brave young worker” would take their employer to tribunal, describing it as “time-consuming, costly and emotionally draining”.265 Careers England asserted that disabled people’s workplace rights are “not upheld and enforced.”266

148.We heard of a number of factors that made it difficult, if not impossible, for young disabled people to enforce their workplace rights.267 These included the fact that enforcement “relies on the individual disabled person advocating for themselves and pushing for their rights”268 and the challenge of evidencing discrimination,269 particularly during recruitment.270 There were also significant problems with delays—as of March 2024, more than 38,200 employment tribunal cases were outstanding271 and it can “take up to two years” for a claim to be decided.272 In addition, there is the fact that tribunal claims can be costly for disabled people,273 particularly young disabled people,274 with little public funding available. Emergency funding is available in theory but is rarely granted.275 This lack of funding means that claimants are unlikely to be able access representation, meaning that they have to represent themselves at tribunal. Legal experts argued that the complexity of employment law and the Equality Act 2010 makes this particularly challenging for young disabled people.276 Employers, on the other hand, will be likely to have legal representation.277

149.Compounding these issues is the fact that the limitation period in the Employment Tribunal is particularly short: a claim has to be lodged within three months less one day from the date of the conduct giving rise to the complaint. The EHRC viewed this as particularly challenging for young disabled people and others at risk of discrimination or harassment.278 In particular, for claims concerning access to reasonable adjustments, the lack of any deadline for responding to a request for reasonable adjustments makes it impossible to know “when the clock starts ticking for a tribunal claim.”279

150.These barriers to bringing a claim mean that, for many employers, the risk of being on the receiving end of an adverse judgment is remote280 and does not provide employers with “sufficient incentive” to put reasonable adjustments in place.281 Conversely, we also heard that some employers have serious concerns about “doing anything that might get them in front of a tribunal … for having done something wrong … that is not necessarily the reality, but that is the perception.”282 This fear of litigation may not, however, drive better behaviour. Mr Hale suggested that “if you make things look like they are a legal risk then you drive risk-adverse behaviour … when what you need is a bit of risk-taking at management level to see people with potential and bring them into the workplace.”283

151.In its manifesto for the 2024 General Election, the current Government committed to implementing its ‘Plan to make work pay: Delivering a New Deal for Working People’,284 promising to introduce legislation to that end within its first 100 days in power.285 Among the commitments within this plan is a promise to create a so-called Single Enforcement Body,286 with powers to inspect workplaces and “undertake targeted and proactive enforcement work and bring civil proceedings upholding employment rights.” The plan also promises to reform the employment tribunals to simplify, streamline, and speed up processes and double the limitation period for bringing a claim, from three months to six months.287

152.Disabled people, particularly young disabled people, face significant barriers to upholding their workplace rights. The current enforcement mechanisms fail to uphold these rights in a way that supports disabled claimants to remain in work and do not incentivise employers to respect the rights of their disabled employees. We therefore welcome the Government’s commitment to introducing a Single Enforcement Body and to reforming the Employment Tribunal to simplify the claims process, extend deadlines, and reduce delays.

153.The Government must keep its promise to start the process of implementing its ‘Plan to make work pay’.

154.In establishing the Single Enforcement Body, the Government must ensure that the Body’s remit includes the enforcement of disability-related workplace rights and that these are prioritised. The Government must also ensure that the Body has the powers necessary to support proactively those disabled people who are more vulnerable to having their rights breached or who are less able to engage effectively with other enforcement mechanisms.

155.Alongside the introduction of a Single Enforcement Body, an Employment Tribunal which employees can bring their cases to must remain in place. We urge the Government to complete its reforms of the Employment Tribunal System as a matter of urgency and ask the Government to provide the Committee with an update on progress with this and with reducing the claims backlog by September 2025.

Awareness of rights

156.There is also the problem of low awareness of their rights among young disabled people. Bethany Bale, Policy and Campaigns Officer, Disability Rights UK, explained that young disabled people often “do not know that their rights not being delivered is unlawful and that they can challenge that.”288 This view was echoed by the young disabled people that the Committee spoke to. In one of our engagement events, a young disabled woman stated that, in her PHSE education, other protected characteristic groups were discussed but disability was not mentioned.289

157.EHRC stated that it “works to ensure that schools support a rights-respecting society, with all pupils learning about rights and the importance of respecting difference, to promote understanding between different groups.”290 However, its own evidence also noted that young disabled people are “unlikely to be aware of their rights”291 and, as Catherine Casserley, a barrister specialising in disability discrimination cases, told us, there is no “obligation on anyone to advise young people of what their rights are.”292

158.We note that, in its ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’,293 the Government commits to introducing a “duty on employers to inform all new employees of their right to join a union, and to inform all staff of this on a regular basis”.294

159.We consider that, in addition to the introduction of a duty to inform all employees of their right to join a union, there is a compelling case for introducing a wider duty on employers to inform employees about the most important and consequential workplace rights more generally. In particular, we believe that both employers and the Government should be responsible for ensuring that all employees are informed about workplace rights relating to disability and reasonable adjustments.

160.We ask the Government, whether in conjunction with the proposed duty to inform workers of their right to join union or in separate legislation, to introduce a duty for employers to inform their employees of their workplace rights and, in particular those rights relating to disability and reasonable adjustments.

161.When developing an information hub setting out support for young disabled people during the transition from education to work the Government should ensure that workplace rights are prominently highlighted.

Earlier resolution

162.Legal experts and a trade union representative argued that workplace rights matters were better resolved before they reached the tribunal, for example through early conciliation processes.295 Stephen Robson, Senior Solicitor on Employment and Discrimination for the Disability Law Service, believed that this would allow employees and employers to “resolve issues before they become too deep” and enable the disabled person to return to work quickly with appropriate support.296 However, Audrey Ludwig, Director of the Suffolk Law Centre, argued that “it is rare for employers to engage at early conciliation stage”.297

163.The Government provides assistance through the Equality Advisory and Support Service, which supports people to resolve issues before taking court action. Marcus Bell, the Director of the Equality Hub at the Cabinet Office, told us that this “is not a very well-known service, but it gets pretty good feedback”.298 EHRC suggested that the service should receive more funding “to help them achieve their aim of providing advice for disabled people with discrimination cases”.299

164.The Government should take steps to improve awareness of the Equality Advisory and Support Service.

165.The Government should explore ways of incentivising employers to engage with early conciliation mechanisms, such as the Equality Advisory and Support Service and Acas.

Mandatory reporting

166.Several contributors supported the introduction of mandatory reporting of disability employment information by large employers, in line with the Disability Employment Charter (the Charter).300 The Charter calls for a set of government interventions relating to disability and employment, which organisations can indicate their support for by signing the charter. One intervention the Charter calls for is the introduction of mandatory reporting for large employers of “the number of disabled people they employ as a proportion of their workforce, their disability pay gap, and the percentage of disabled employees within each pay quartile.”301 Disability@Work, a team of academics focused on disability employment and a founding signatory of the Charter, noted that “several employers already report disability employment metrics”, showing that it is possible to do so. Examples include EY, Capita, and Clifford Chance.302

167.The previous Government acknowledged the benefits of disability employment reporting in its framework for voluntary reporting on disability, mental health and wellbeing. This stated that “transparency and reporting are effective levers in driving the culture change required to build a more inclusive society.”303 The framework also noted the benefits that voluntary reporting has for employers.

168.In our view, all of the benefits of the voluntary reporting of employers’ disability data would apply equally to mandatory reporting.

169.Witnesses were critical of the voluntary nature of current reporting mechanisms. The EHRC stated that “there has been no assessment of either take up by employers or the effectiveness of the current framework on improving outcomes for disabled workers.”304 Deirdre Costigan highlighted the impact of making reporting mandatory: “we have seen with the gender pay gap that change does not happen unless this is mandatory. There was a voluntary system, but nobody did it.”305 Bethany Bale argued that making reporting mandatory would ensure public accountability and transparency. She also thought it would provide a strong incentive for employers: “Reputational risk can mean that employers are more likely to engage.”306

170.We did hear some concerns about introducing mandatory reporting. For example, employees may choose not to disclose that they have a disability due to concerns about discrimination307 possibly for cultural reasons308 or because they do not identify as disabled, thereby skewing the data. This could be mitigated by the use of anonymous employee surveys, but this would limit employers’ ability to report pay gap information. Alternatively, employers could offer assurances that this information would be treated anonymously.309 Organisations could also take steps to improve their culture so that employees were willing to disclose that they have a disability or health condition.310

171.Pay gap reporting might also adversely affect those employers that employ more disabled people, because disabled people are frequently hired at lower grades, thereby creating larger pay gaps.311 Disability@Work argued that this “highlights the importance of employers providing a narrative to help explain and provide context to their pay gap figures.”312

172.Nonetheless, in its manifesto for the 2024 General Election, the current Government indicated that it intended to introduce disability pay gap reporting for large employers, “building on gender pay gap reporting.”313

173.We welcome the Government’s commitment to the principle that disabled people should be paid equally and to the introduction of disability pay gap reporting.

174.We urge the Government to ensure that disability pay gap reporting is mandatory for employers with more than 250 employees and for all Disability Confident Leaders.

175.We also ask the Government to support companies with fewer than 250 employees to report voluntarily, drawing on best practice from large employers who already report this information in a meaningful way.

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