Disability Pay Gap

View the 2024 pay gap reporting on disability at Northumbria

There is no statutory duty to analyse or report on disability pay gap, but for the second year we have committed to do so, in line with our ambition to eliminate all pay gaps.

In total 4.7% of staff (127 women and 62 men) report having a disability or long-term condition. Some 77.6% report no disability and a further 17.6% have not declared their disability status. The disability pay gap refers to the difference in average hourly pay between disabled and non-disabled employees.

The overall mean and median disability pay gap at Northumbria University is 13.4% in each case which is higher than the mean gender pay gap but lower than the median. This gap is driven by a higher proportion of disabled staff in lower pay grades and very few in senior roles. For example, within Grade 3, 8.6% of staff have declared a disability (the second-lowest grade), while none are in the highest-paid grade (10), lowering the overall average pay for disabled staff.

Disability pay gap 2024

	Mean	Median
Disabled staff	£21.89	£20.38
Non-disabled staff	£25.26	£23.53
£ difference	£3.37	£3.15
Disability pay gap	13.4%	13.4%

Table 13

Proportion of staff by pay grade and disability (of those that reported) 2024

Figure 10

View alt text for above figure (10)

Since 2021 the mean disability pay gap has widened significantly, increasing from 7.0% in 2021 to 13.4% in 2024, meanwhile the median disability pay gap has remained stubbornly high. A widening mean pay gap suggests that fewer disabled staff who have declared a disability are employed in senior roles now than was the case in 2021.

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