Potential changes to UK equality law: government call for evidence  

The government’s Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) has issued a call for evidence on aspects of equality law, inviting feedback and insights on several new proposals and certain existing provisions and processes. The government indicated at the time of publishing the Employment Rights Bill that it intends to publish a bill on race and disability equality during the current parliamentary session for pre-legislative scrutiny.  

The call for evidence goes beyond the expected scope of a race and disability equality bill. It is looking for input and ideas on the following topics: 

• Race and disability pay discrimination: The government wants to see evidence on the prevalence of pay discrimination based on race, disability and sex, with particular focus on how any patterns differ depending on the protected characteristic in question and how patterns differ across sectors and types of work. 

• Equal pay for ethnic minority and disabled people: The government wishes to explore ways to improve the effectiveness of equal pay rights for disabled individuals and those from ethnic minorities. Suggestions include enabling individuals to compare themselves with colleagues doing equal value work in different roles and creating new remedies such as permanent amendments to employment contracts. 

• Outsourcing and equal pay: The current law prevents outsourced workers comparing their contractual terms with those of directly employed workers. The government plans to consider ways to prevent employers from outsourcing work to avoid paying all staff equally. It is seeking views on this and evidence to help establish where liability for equal pay claims by outsourced workers should lie. 

• Equal pay regulatory and enforcement unit: Currently, equal pay claims take longer to reach a conclusion than other types of complaints, such as unfair dismissal. As a result, there is a high number of equal pay claims in the tribunal system. The government is considering how enforcement of equal pay could be improved through the establishment of an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit, with the involvement of trade unions. This unit would have several other functions such as providing legal advice, offering informal dispute resolution, and providing training on equal pay and good practice for employers, HR professionals and employees. 

• Improving pay transparency: The government is seeking input on the implementation of pay transparency measures, such as publishing salary ranges in job ads, prohibiting employers from asking questions about salary history and ensuring employees have access to information about their own pay and how it compares to others working in similar roles or performing work of equal value in order to prevent pay discrimination. 

• Equal pay audits: The government has called for evidence on how effective equal pay audits legislation has been, including how often employment tribunals mandate audits and how impactful the penalties are for failing to comply. The government is looking into potentially expanding the scope of equal pay audits to cover race and disability pay discrimination. 

• Combined or dual discrimination: The government is considering bringing Section 14 of the Equality Act 2010 into force and seeking feedback on its potential effects. Section 14 would allow for an employee to bring a discrimination claim in relation to a combination of two relevant protected characteristics.  

• Public sector equality duty: The government wishes to assess how non-public bodies that perform public functions comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), including whether there are barriers preventing them from doing so and whether further steps are needed to ensure their compliance. 

• Sexual harassment prevention: The government is reviewing measures to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, particularly considering the new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent it. It is seeking evidence on effective actions, company culture, training, reporting systems, enforcing policies and how best practices may vary across different sectors. The government is also exploring whether to extend the protection against sexual harassment under the Equality Act 2010 to volunteers and interns, and the potential challenges involved in doing so in relation to volunteers. 

• Socio-economic duty: The consultation also seeks views on the implementation of the socio-economic duty in England, which would require public authorities to consider socio-economic inequalities in their decision-making processes. The duty is already in place in Scotland and Wales, and the government is reviewing its effectiveness. 

Next steps 

The call for evidence closes on 30 June 2025. Proposed changes flowing from the call of evidence could significantly impact equality law and, in turn, workplace practices. The call for evidence is just the first step and we expect