Equal Pay

The Government has indicated that it wants to tackle equal pay. 

The Next Steps and Plan to Make Work Pay documents set out reforms in respect of equal pay that it said would be delivered through the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill and so are not included in the ERA 2025.

A call for evidence on equality law in 2025 sought views on making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people as well ask asking for views on other areas of equality law (such as pay transparency and equal pay enforcement). It was anticipated that the Government’s proposals following this would shape the contents of the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

On 14 July 2026, the findings to the call for evidence were published alongside a further consultation which sets out more specific measures for reform of equal pay. The consultation document explains that its Plan to Make Work Pay made three commitments on equal pay, but that its research has demonstrated the need for more comprehensive reform. The now proposed strategy focuses on key phases: improving the current system and broadening protections.

Phase 1: Improving the current system

Proposals include introducing pay transparency measures, including:

• Introducing a statutory requirement (via regulations) for employers to publish pay information in job adverts or in writing before the interview if there is no job advert
• Strengthening measures applying to employers found by an Employment Tribunal to have committed an equal pay breach and to cases where the new Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit has established reasonable suspicion of pay discrimination
• Streamlining exceptions to the requirement for Employment Tribunals to order equal pay audits after finding an equal pay breach
• Mandating that an Employment Tribunal must order that the employer implements a non-discriminatory job evaluation scheme where the Employment Tribunal has found pay discrimination
• Reinstating the statutory questionnaire procedure to be used in pay discrimination cases only (this would be optional, but a court or tribunal could draw an inference from an employer’s failure to answer a question within a set period of time or an evasive or equivocal answer)

Phase 1 also proposes measures to improve enforcement via the Employment Tribunal through launching formal reviews into how to improve the rules of procedure for pay discrimination claims and the operation of independent panels of experts.

The Government also proposes, as anticipated, establishing an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit with new powers (such as requiring employers to give disclosure of evidence before triggering a formal investigation process, strengthening investigation powers by requiring a job evaluation scheme or equal pay audit be undertaken as part of the investigation process and the ability to require those subject to inquiry recommendations to respond to them). (See the Enforcement section for more information).

Phase 2: Broadening protections

The consultation says its initial focus will be on improving the current system, but once those reforms are implemented then they will implement measures to address gaps and inconsistencies, including:

• Making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people ability – The Government is now proposing, following its call for evidence,  to essentially “level up” (via five proposed complex measures) the Equality Act 2010’s protections against pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability (via direct and indirect discrimination claims, as well as discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments claims), and the Equality Act 2010’s equal pay scheme (which only applies to sex). The proposal is that equal pay claims would remain limited only to sex, rather than being extended to also cover race and disability. However, each regime will be “levelled-up” so that the advantages currently available to different claimant groups (sex, disability and race) will be equalised as far as possible.
• Promoting pay equality in contractual outsourcing arrangements – Originally framed as ensuring that outsourcing of services can “no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay”, the Government is now proposing to create a duty on contractual parties to take all reasonable steps (the meaning of which would be set out in regulations) to uphold pay equality in their contractual arrangements. The Government is envisaging that such a duty would apply to all parties (including principals, intermediaries and service providers) to contractual arrangements where they relate to work performed by an outsourced worker for a principal employer. The consultation proposes that breaches of the duty would be enforced by the Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit, which would be able to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal or use its other enforcement powers (such as its investigation powers). Importantly, individual employees would not be able to bring claims for a breach of this duty themselves. Where a breach is found, the Tribunal would not order compensation to affected workers; instead, it would require the relevant contracting parties to take whatever reasonable steps are necessary to ensure pay equality in their contractual arrangements going forward.

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Timing and developments

Not included in the ERA 2025.

Call for evidence launched on 7 April 2025 in respect of the provisions to be included in the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill and closed on 30 June 2025. Findings to this were published on 14 July 2026, alongside a new consultation on how the Government could comprehensively reform the pay discrimination framework, which closes on 27 October 2026. The consultation says that the Government will seek an extended implementation period before measures are commenced.