Paying people with learning disabilities lower wages perpetuates inequality
Calls to pay people with learning disabilities below the minimum wage fly in the face of the evidence – not to mention the law.
When is one person of less value than another? According to some, when they have a learning disability and are looking for work. Rosa Monckton, businesswoman and parent of a learning disabled woman, has reignited calls for the law to be changed so that employers can pay people with learning disabilities below the minimum wage. Journalist Libby Purves then chimed in with her support.
As is so often the case with calls to make a special case for learning disabled people, these well meaning but fundamentally wrong proposals fly in the face of the evidence. Yes it is unacceptable that the employment rate of adults with learning disabilities has dropped to 5.8%, but trying to get people into work by paying below the minimum wage is not the answer. Monckton’s suggestion is based on four false assumptions.