UK government asks for input on equality law changes

The government is planning to introduce an Equality (Race and Disability) Bill to tackle pay discrimination at work and make ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting mandatory. It’s asking for input to help shape the legislation, seeking views on barriers to opportunity and how to overcome them, especially around equal pay, pay transparency and sexual harassment.

Pay inequality 

The government wants to end pay discrimination at work and ensure that ethnic minority and disabled employees receive equal pay. It asks for views on how to strengthen existing protections against pay inequality, whether by extending the existing equal pay framework to cover race and disability or a different approach. 

Outsourcing arrangements 

There’s also a concern that some employers use outsourcing to “avoid paying equal pay”. The call for evidence suggests letting employees of an outsourcing provider compare their pay with a client’s employee in an equal pay claim. This would be a major change as currently equal pay claims are only possible if there is a “single source” (effectively a single entity) that can correct pay inequalities. The government also asks who should be liable for successful cross-employer equal pay claims – the client, the outsourcing provider or joint liability. 

Equal pay enforcement 

Equal pay claims can take years to resolve, so the government is asking if it could improve enforcement, for example by creating a new Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit with the involvement of trade unions. It’s not clear what role trade unions would play. 

The call for evidence explores what powers a new unit might have, including whether it should be able to bring legal proceedings to enforce equal pay rights. 

Pay transparency 

The government is considering introducing pay transparency requirements as a way of tackling pay discrimination, including: 

• Requiring employers to provide salary ranges in job adverts or before interviews; 
• Stopping employers from asking candidates about their salary history; and/ or 
• Making employers publish information to help employees understand their pay and how it compares to that of others doing similar work. 

Other questions relate to compulsory pay audits employers must carry out if they lose an equal pay claim. The government is thinking about increasing the penalties for employers who fail to carry out pay audits and applying the obligation to successful race and disability pay discrimination claims. 

Sexual harassment 

The Employment Rights Bill requires employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and protects employees against third party harassment. The government asks for views on effective steps for reducing workplace sexual harassment and on protecting volunteers against sexual harassment. 

Authored by Jo Broadbent, Anvita Sharma and Stefan Martin.