UK moves to extend equal pay rights to race and disability
Key Points
- Government launched a 15-week equal pay consultation on 14 July 2026
- Equal pay rights would extend to ethnic minority and disabled workers
- A new Equal Pay Regulation and Enforcement Unit is proposed
- Employers could no longer use outsourcing to avoid equal pay
- Tribunal claims currently take decades, with thousands stuck in the system
The government has launched a 15-week consultation on extending equal pay rights to ethnic minority and disabled workers, alongside plans for a new enforcement unit and a crackdown on outsourcing arrangements used to sidestep equal pay law.
The consultation, announced on Tuesday (14 July) by the Office for Equality and Opportunity invites businesses, public bodies, trade unions and civil society organisations across Great Britain to shape the reforms.
It follows findings from the government’s call for evidence on equality law showing the current framework is too complex, expensive and slow, with thousands of claims stuck in the system and tribunal proceedings often taking decades to resolve.
The right to equal pay for equal work currently applies only to sex under the Equality Act 2010. The reforms would broadly level up protections against pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability, meaning ethnic minority and disabled workers could bring equal pay claims for the first time.
For outsourced workers, those supplied through agencies, contractors or umbrella companies, employers would be required to take reasonable steps to uphold pay equality, closing a route the government says is used to avoid paying equal wages.
The first phase of the reforms covers increasing pay transparency to prevent discrimination before it happens, speeding up the claims process, and establishing an Equal Pay Regulation and Enforcement Unit with potential strengthened powers and trade union involvement. The second phase would broaden protections to race and disability and tackle outsourcing.
Seema Malhotra MP, Minister for Equalities, said the Equal Pay Act was a huge achievement but needs reform 50 years on. “The current equal pay framework is too slow, too expensive, and puts too much pressure on workers, businesses, and the justice system,” she said.
Sir Stephen Timms MP, Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, said the consultation would help eliminate workplace unfairness for disabled people, while Employment Rights Minister Kate Dearden MP said fair pay leads to better living standards, increased productivity and stronger talent retention.
For workers, the changes could mean a faster, cheaper route to recovering underpaid wages. Katharine Sacks-Jones, Chief Executive of the Young Women’s Trust, said young women still earn around a fifth less than young men from the start of their careers, a gap compounded when salaries are based on previous earnings.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said pay discrimination remains widespread despite more than 50 years of legislation, and that expanding the system by race and disability status “is a step in the right direction”.
