Overhauling equal pay

Alongside the many and various recently published consultations and official responses relating to Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms, the Government is pressing ahead with other wide-ranging changes promised under its ‘Make Work Pay’ programme.

On 14 July 2026, the latest consultation on proposals to reform the existing equal pay framework was published, and it suggests that some radical changes are on the horizon. The consultation recognises that the current system is overly complex, slow and heavily reliant on individual litigation, with group equal pay claims often taking years to resolve. The proposed reforms attempt to move away from litigation to taking more proactive, preventative steps, alongside stronger regulatory enforcement.

The Government’s proposals as set out in the consultation are divided into two phases.

Phase one: fixing the current system

Greater pay transparency

The Government proposes requiring employers to disclose pay information in job advertisements or, where there is no advert, in writing before interview. The details to be disclosed would be set out in regulations.

It also proposes:

• reinstating a statutory questionnaire procedure for pay discrimination disputes, allowing employees and workers to obtain information at an early stage
• strengthening the use of equal pay audits where breaches are found
• requiring tribunals to order implementation of a non-discriminatory job evaluation scheme where pay discrimination has been established and no suitable scheme is already in place.

New enforcement framework

A key proposal under consideration is the creation of an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit (the Unit). The Unit would take a more proactive role in investigating and preventing pay discrimination, reducing reliance on individual claimants bringing tribunal claims. The Unit would be located either within the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Fair Work Agency, another government body, or be created as an independent regulator.

The Government is also consulting on giving the Unit enhanced powers, including:

• requiring employers to disclose pay information and evidence before a formal investigation begins
• requiring employers to conduct job evaluation exercises or equal pay audits during investigations
• requiring organisations to respond to and report on implementation of recommendations following investigations or inquiries

Alongside these reforms, the Government intends to review tribunal procedures and the operation of the independent panel of experts involved in equal value claims, with the aim of reducing delay and complexity.

Phase two: extending protection

The Government proposes ‘levelling up’ protection so that race and disability pay discrimination claims receive broadly equivalent protection and remedies to sex-based equal pay claims, while keeping the enforcement regimes distinct.

Key proposals include:

• allowing tribunals to modify discriminatory contractual terms in successful race and disability pay discrimination claims
• extending equal pay audit and job evaluation requirements to employers found liable for race or disability pay discrimination
• allowing race and disability claimants to bring claims based on work of ‘equal value’, not just materially similar work
• allowing limited use of hypothetical comparators in equal pay claims, and allowing an equal pay claimant to point to a successor in employment as a valid comparator
• giving tribunals discretion to extend time limits for equal pay claims where it is just and equitable to do so.

Outsourcing and contractual arrangements

The Government also seeks to address concerns that outsourcing arrangements can be used to avoid equal pay obligations.

It proposes introducing a new duty requiring all parties in an outsourcing chain, including principals, contractors and intermediaries, to take ‘reasonable steps’ to uphold pay equality in contractual arrangements. The duty would apply in relation to sex, race and disability.

Enforcement would primarily be the responsibility of the new Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit rather than individual workers. Tribunals would be able to require organisations to take corrective steps, although compensation would not generally be payable for breach of the duty itself.

Next steps

The consultation runs for 15 weeks, ending on 27 October 2026. The responses will then be used by the Government to refine their proposals before final policy decisions are made and the timeframe for implementation will be confirmed.

The consultation confirms that phase one reforms will be implemented before any expansion of protections under phase two. An extended implementation period has been promised to allow employers and the tribunal system time to prepare.

The Government has also indicated that reviews of tribunal procedures and the independent panel of experts will be completed before introducing new race, disability and outsourcing-related equal pay measures.

The Birketts view

The Government has recognised that the current system is struggling to deliver timely and effective outcomes for either employees or employers. This consultation heralds what will, assuming it is implemented, be a very significant overhaul of the current equal pay framework.

One of the most concerning aspects of these proposals for many employers will be the requirement to publish salary information in job adverts, or to be provided in writing prior to interview if there is no advert. While some employers already follow this approach, for others it is likely to have a significant impact on their recruitment practices. It may encourage organisations to undertake a much closer review of their pay structures before vacancies arise.

While the focus of the proposals is towards greater transparency and stronger enforcement, the Government has sensibly recognised that reforms must be accompanied by changes to the tribunal process itself. Unless the underlying causes of delay in equal pay litigation are addressed, there is a risk of simply adding new claims into an already overburdened system. The planned reviews of tribunal procedures and the operation of the independent panel of experts may ultimately prove just as important as the headline legal reforms.