Equality and equal pay

Employers with 250 employees or more will be required to develop and publish equality action plans relating to gender equality - addressing the gender pay gap and dealing with supporting employees through the menopause.

Implementation Status (November 2024)

• Part of Employment Rights Bill.
• Consultation on regulations setting out the details of this proposal will take place.
• "The majority of reforms will take effect no earlier than 2026".
• The government has also committed to develop menopause guidance for employers which will be progressed outside the Bill. 
   

Action

• Many employers are already producing and publishing gender pay gap action plans; employers should ensure that the steps they are taking comply with the new statutory obligation when it is in force.

• We are increasingly seeing employers tackling menopause in the workplace through policies, training and support groups. Steps being taken in relation to menopause should be reviewed and further steps identified in preparation for the new reporting duty.

• Ensure that any data protection required complies with wider legislative, regulatory and data protection requirements. 

In detail

• Employers with 250 employees or more will be required to develop and publish equality action plans setting out the steps they are taking in relation to "prescribed matters related to gender equality and to publish prescribed information relating to their plans". Prescribed matters will include addressing the gender pay gap and supporting employees going through the menopause.

• Regulations may make provision about:

  • The content of employers' gender action plans.

  • The form and manner in which the plan on information is to be published;

  • When and how frequently the plan or information is to be published or revised.

  • Requirements for senior approval before a plan or information is published.

  • Descriptions of employers, employees and information.

• The government's intention is that the gender pay gap reporting service will "include a list of actions and employers will be asked to identify which they are enlisting. The list will be based on international evidence showing them to be effective or considered best practice. Employers will then be encouraged to provide further detail about the actions taken on their own website."

• After the first publication of an employer's gender action plan, it will not be required to publish information more frequently than every 12 months.

• Regulations may set out how a failure to comply will be enforced. The Next Steps paper states that a Regulatory Enforcement Unit will be set up to deal with enforcement; it is anticipated that this will be dealt with in the forthcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. 

Impact

• At present employers with 250 or more employees are required to report via the government portal gender pay gap figures. Many employers also publish supporting narratives and action plans setting out measures they are taking to close the gap.

• The government has only indicated that it is currently focusing on gender pay and menopause. We may however see regulations introduced in the future covering other "gender equality" matters.

• The government's commitment to menopause support is highlighted in its recent appointment of a new Menopause Employment Ambassador to work closely with employers to improve workplace support for women navigating menopause, helping them stay in work and progress their careers. It has been reported that almost 70% of employed women aged 40-60 report menopausal symptoms having a negative effect on their work, with over 50% unable to go into work at some point due symptoms.                                                                                                                                                                 

The government will require employers with more than 250 staff to report on their ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

Implementation Status (November 2024)

• Part of the Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill – to be published during the current parliamentary session for pre-legislative scrutiny.
• Consultation will take place on secondary regulations.
   

Action

• Employers who do not already report on ethnicity or disability pay gaps should start considering what steps they may need to take to prepare for this new legal reporting requirement, and how data will be collected in line with existing statutory and data protection requirements.

• The current voluntary guidance on ethnicity pay gap reporting provides a tool for employers to understand each stage of the process but also the specific complexities that ethnicity pay reporting brings. Disability pay gap reporting is likely to bring similar complexities.

• Employers may also want to take the opportunity to address other potential pay inequalities existing within their organisation; for example, we are starting to see some employers reporting voluntarily on their socioeconomic pay gaps.

• The government has indicated that it will be taking forward other measures to support disabled workers into and staying in employment; the government will shortly publish its Get Britain Working white paper.

In detail

• We are waiting for more details to be published; the government is working on a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

Impact

• These proposals are likely to be subject to extensive consultation and detailed regulations.

• The benefits diversity and inclusion brings to an organisation are well recognised; the previous government published guidance providing for voluntary ethnicity pay reporting recognising that "there is still more to be done to remove barriers to entering the labour market and to ensure pay and progression in the workplace is fair for all ethnic groups" and that "ethnicity pay reporting is one of the tools employers can use to build transparency and trust among their employees"

• In November 2018 the previous government published a voluntary framework to encourage businesses to report how many of their staff have a disability or health condition and their health and wellbeing.