At a Glance
The Government has issued its first set of guidance regarding pay gap and menopause action plans. The Government’s Employment Rights Act 2025 (‘ERA 2025’) timeline indicates that these plans will become mandatory for employers required to publish gender pay gap reports in the UK from 2027. The guidance suggests that the first compulsory action plan must be published by 4 April 2028 for the 2027/2028 reporting year, based on the 2026/2027 gender pay gap data, however, confirmation is awaited in the regulations.
In Detail
The Government’s latest guidance was published on 4 March 2026, a few days ahead of International Women’s Day, and encourages employers to take action to improve workplace gender equality.
The obligation to publish an action plan alongside gender pay gap figures originates from the ERA 2025, which introduced a statutory duty for large employers (those with 250 or more employees) to develop and publish equality action plans. These plans must set out the measures employers are taking in respect of prescribed matters relating to gender equality.
The new Government guidance clarifies the scope of this statutory requirement, specifically, that action plans must address (i) the employer’s gender pay gap, and (ii) support for employees experiencing menopause and the timing of when employers will be required to comply.
Organisations who are required to publish gender pay gap reports will fall within this scope. At a high-level, only employers with 250 or more ‘relevant’ employees as at the snapshot date (5 April 2027) will be required to publish a gender pay gap report and hence publish an action plan.
It should be noted that secondary legislation will be required to bring this new requirement into effect, and we do not have the wording of this legislation yet. Further, additional guidance for employers on creating an action plan is due to be published in April 2026. There is scope in the ERA 2025 for further regulations to be set that will provide for how the action plan requirements will be enforced. We expect, however, that enforcement will be similar to enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting regulations, relying largely on a ‘name and shame’ approach for non-compliance.
The current guidance says that employers “may” also publish on their website, indicating that this is not mandatory (although this could be changed in the full guidance and regulations).
Employers are not required to publish an action plan for the 2026/2027 reporting year, but the Government is encouraging employers to use this voluntary year to practice before it becomes mandatory in the future. Although many employers may choose not to publicly publish these action plans, it would be prudent to consider what may be included in your action plan to prepare for the requirement and identify any gaps which need to be addressed.
Although further guidance is expected, we do know that action plans will require at least one action relating to gender pay gaps and one action in relation to menopause. To help employers, the Government has published a list of recommended (evidence-informed) actions that employers can include in their plans.
The Government notes that these actions were developed using expert insight and research. Actions are grouped around recruiting staff, developing and promoting staff, building diversity into the organisation, increasing transparency and supporting women with health conditions and menopause. Some examples include:
- Making job descriptions inclusive
- Reducing unconscious bias in CV screening
- Automatically considering eligible employees for promotion
- Setting targets to improve gender representation
- Increasing transparency for pay, promotion and rewards
- Training managers to support employees experiencing menopause
- Offering occupational health advice and workplace adjustments for employees experiencing menopause
- Conducting a menopause risk assessment for your workplace
- Reviewing policies and procedures to meet the needs of employees experiencing menopause
Helping Employers Prepare
This new requirement marks a material shift in gender pay gap reporting from passive reporting of statistics to active communication about proactive steps employers will take. While some employers have already taken this proactive approach to their reporting, those who have stayed closer to the mandatory minimum reporting requirements will need to implement a structural change in how gender pay gap reporting is approached, as the action plan must be also be signed off by senior leadership (a similar requirement to the gender pay gap report statistics).
There is no doubt that employees and industry groups will be keen to scrutinise commitments implemented and hold employers accountable as to whether said commitments are followed through or not.
Further Developments
Further changes are anticipated in this area, with the Government also proposing to extend pay gap reporting obligations to include mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting under the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. See our previous articles here and here, and our Reform Hub for further details.
This latest step by the Government continues the global trend towards greater pay transparency and action on pay equity. The EU’s Pay Transparency Directive, with a transposition deadline of 7 June 2026, is causing many global employers to deep dive into their pay structures and processes. This latest requirement for action plans in the UK may require further corporate soul searching about what steps an organisation is willing to publicly commit to.
Littler’s EU Pay Transparency Steering Committee can help you navigate these issues, across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
