UKHospitality warns against mandatory disability monitoring in hospitality sector

UKHospitality has warned that requiring hospitality employers to report data on the number of disabled staff in the workplace and how they are supported could lead to “inappropriate practices”.

The trade body said that while the hospitality industry could ‘lead the way in helping disabled people flourish’ it was worried mandatory reporting would not capture the nuance of the issue.

UKHospitality was reacting to a National Disability Strategy consultation examining the roles of governments and employers in making the workplace more inclusive and transparent for disabled people.

In particular, the consultation asked how businesses with more than 250 employees might be incentivised to ‘collect and report statistics about disability to make their workforces more inclusive’.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality and disability and access officer for the Cabinet Office, said: “We want to see more hospitality businesses implementing practices to allow disabled people to flourish in our sector, drawing on their personal qualities and skills.

“However, mandatory disability monitoring and reporting are not the way forward. Disability continues to be a delicate matter and we’re concerned that mandatory reporting could prompt the implementation of inappropriate practices, for example, data collection performed in a way that fails to capture the nuance and complexity of the workforce’s demographics and the business’ inclusivity.

“In order to recruit inclusively, with confidence, and to engage with monitoring, hospitality businesses are going to need clear, robust guidance. We’re keen to work closely with government to achieve this.”

A voluntary reporting framework, which provides support to employers to report information on disability, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, has been in place since 2018.