The PDA is committed to tackling inequality in all forms and supports the proposal that employers with more than 250 staff should monitor and report ethnicity and disability pay gaps, just as they are already required to do for gender pay gap reporting.
Members of the PDA’s Ability Network and BAME Network report experience of discrimination at work. This includes a lack of progression and experiencing a pay gap compared to other colleagues.
Previous research carried out by the PDA in collaboration with The Equality Trust highlighted that locums from ethnic minority groups were paid approximately 10% less than those from white British groups. The figures also revealed that relief managers, clinical pharmacists, and community pharmacists from ethnic minority groups were also paid less on average.
The PDA highlights that having a pay gap does not necessarily mean it has been deliberately created, but unless the workforce’s pay is monitored for the possibility that such gaps may exist, any such gaps will continue unchecked, and inequalities could worsen.
The PDA also supports the proposal that employers should create action plans to help tackle any identified inequalities to close the pay gap. It should be seen as a tool which helps identify, implement, and evaluate the strategies which may be in place to improve workplace equality. Action plans should look at barriers to inclusion and promote reasonable adjustments.
DOWNLOAD THE PDA’S RESPONSE HERE
The Disability Employment Charter
Along with 250 other organisations, the PDA is also a proud signatory of the Disability Employment Charter, which outlines actions that the government needs to take to address the disadvantages disabled people encounter in their working lives. Among nine areas of action, the charter calls for employers with 250+ employees to publish data annually on:
- the number of disabled people they employ as a proportion of their workforce
- their disability pay gap
- the percentage of disabled employees within each pay quartile.
The charter also calls for the government to take into account increasing disability prevalence in calculating the disability employment gap, and use the ‘prevalence corrected’ employment gap measure in monitoring national progress on disability employment.
Those that would like to get involved in the PDA’s EDI Networks, either as a member or ally, can find out more information here.
Get involved
Learn more:
- Equality (Race and Disability) Bill: mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting
- PDA concerned about unequal pay for pharmacists
- PDA calls for zero tolerance for disability discrimination in the workplace
- It’s Time to Address Discrimination: Standing up for Sitting Down
- PDA attends NHS Disability Summit
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.