The Equalities Minister, Seema Malhotra, has confirmed that the Government is committed to its manifesto pledge to make the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority people.
The Minister was speaking in Parliament, responding to MPs of the Race Equality Engagement Group. Lewisham East MP, Janet Daby, highlighted that the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show the median adjusted pay gap for UK-born black African, Caribbean, or black British employees is 5.6% lower in comparison to UK-born white employees.
This follows a call for evidence on equality laws that closed on 30 June 2025 which invited responses on:
- the prevalence of pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability
- making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people
- implementing the as yet unused provisions in the Equality Act on “combined discrimination”
- extending sexual harassment protection to volunteers and interns
- the measures to ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay
- improving the enforcement of equal pay rights by establishing an Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit, with the involvement of trade unions.
Seema Malhotra said the Government is working to analyse the responses to the call for evidence and “will update the House on [its] plans soon.”
The Government set out its plans in the King's Speech 2024 to publish a draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill that will extend pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability for large employers. A separate consultation on the Bill closed on 10 June 2025.
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, measures will be introduced during 2027 that will require large employers to produce gender pay gap action plans and menopause action plans.
