BOSSES should be obliged to report on pay for disabled people to help tackle the “shocking” disability pay gap of 15 per cent, a senior trade unionist said today.

TUC deputy leader Paul Nowak also took aim at the Tory government’s toothless attempt to close the pay gap in his speech at the TUC’s disabled workers’ conference.

He said: “Instead of punitive welfare reforms, let’s have a clear strategy to help more disabled people into decent, well-paying jobs.”

“Most urgently, we need action to fight our shocking disability pay gap of 15 per cent — costing disabled workers £3,000 a year.”

The pay gap is double for workers with mental health conditions, which he said was “evidence of deep-seated discrimination in our labour market.”

He denounced the government’s proposals to tackle this issue as a “half-baked two-page voluntary code.”

Instead he demanded mandatory pay gap reporting and action plans, with a statutory duty on employers to report disability pay and employment data.

“Frankly employers don’t need a light touch — they need a kick up the arse,” he suggested.

The TUC is also concerned that just half of working-age disabled people currently have a job. Mr Nowak said the statistic was “shocking for a so-called civilised society.”

He was dismayed that far too many employers were “still failing to meet even their most basic obligations” almost a quarter of a century after legislation was passed requiring that they make reasonable adjustments.

In the same speech, Mr Nowak took aim at the far-right as Britain goes to the polls for European elections tomorrow. He denounced candidate “Tommy Robinson” as “a fraudster, a fascist, [and] a two-bit thug.”

“We’ve got to expose the likes of Tommy Robinson posing as working-class heroes,” Mr Nowak warned.

He said the former EDL front man — standing for election for North West England — is “no blue-collar champion” and is “as fake as his name”, an alias concealing his true identity as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

Instead, he told delegates: “Trade unions are the true champions of the working class.

“And I mean the working class in all its brilliant diversity — black and white, women and men, young and old. Those with disabilities, and those without.”

He added: “Where others seek to divide, I want our movement to bring people together. Celebrating everything that unites us as workers and as citizens.”