The study highlighted employers’ discrimination between non-disabled and disabled people

A new UK-based study undertaken by Cardiff University, University of Liverpool and Thames Water has revealed significant employment discrimination against disabled candidates.

The study was conducted in five UK cities from October 2022 to July 2023. It consisted of more than 4,000 fictitious job applications, where a select number included the use of a wheelchair. These applications targeted roles in the financial sector, such as accounting, where mobility would have no effect on an employee’s performance.

This study was particularly notable in Wales, which has the highest proportion of disabled people in the UK at 26%. It was also revealed that in the UK, one in five employers said would be “less likely” to hire someone with a disability.

Conformable at Cardiff University, the study highlighted three key findings as a result of these applications.

The first being discrimination in the hiring process and the number of callback rates for applicants with disabilities. It found that companies typically called on disabled candidates 15% less than their able-bodied counterparts with the same qualifications. The same discrimination rose to 21% when looking at low-skilled financial assistant positions.

The next finding concerned roles that employers are more desperate to fill. It found that for roles based on certified accounting, there was no obvious discrimination in employment. This probably reflects the significant demand for employees in these positions.

Finally, when testing a disabled person’s application with more qualifications or experience, such as better education, skills and references, it was found to surprisingly widen the gap, favoring non-disabled applicants more.

In March 2022, the Welsh Government set out its Employment and Skills Plan, targeting discrimination in education and the workplace. Despite these targets, which are due to be achieved by 2026, this study made it clear that the UK still has a long way to go.

Conformable for Senedd Research, the evidence shows that there is a 32.8% difference in the employment rate between disabled and non-disabled people, underscoring the importance of this study in tackling ableism in the workplace.

Volunteer-led disability charities have set out to tackle many prejudices against the disabled community in the hope of bridging the gap with employers.

Disability has Wales said that it wants to “empower people with disabilities and their organizations to create change at local, national and international levels”.

In addition, the study also explored three alternative job types and employer characteristics.

The first focused on teamwork and customer-facing roles, where they found that there was more disability discrimination than in accounting roles. This could be due to fears of prejudice from both fellow employees and customers.

Another issue that was raised was that of advertised “equal opportunity” jobs. It found that there was almost no change in levels of discrimination in the hiring process, despite being promoted as ‘equal opportunities’. This raises a significant question about the effectiveness of these roles and initiatives.

Speaking from Cardiff University, Professor Melanie Jones said: “Our evidence of disability discrimination in employment is clearly against the fact that it is illegal in the UK under the Equality Act. That we find that a range of mechanisms believed to close the employment gap for people with disabilities are ineffective in tackling employment discrimination highlights how difficult it is for policymakers to challenge.”

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