The government is consulting on giving disabled people stronger rights to equal pay.
Consultation, July 2026
The consultation on this is Equal pay and pay discrimination (gov.uk). Phase one of the proposals would involve improving current equal pay law relating to sex.
Phase two would involve ‘broadly levelling-up the Equality Act 2010’s protections against pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability, and those it provides under the equal pay scheme against pay discrimination on the basis of sex.
As regards disability, the idea is that the existing types of disability discrimination claim would stay, including as the basis for equal pay claims, but amendments to the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) would address (‘level up’) certain ways in which these claims give less protection than the equal pay rules relating to sex.
One proposed change relates to work which is different from that of the comparator, but is of ‘equal value’ in terms of demands such as effort, skill and decision-making. The consultation says that at present, it is highly unlikely that a disability (or race) discrimination claimant could bring a successful direct or indirect discrimination claim which is comparable to a ‘rated as equivalent’ claim or an ‘equal value’ claim under the equal pay scheme. This is because under s.23 EqA, in cases of direct and indirect discrimination, there must be no material difference between the circumstances relating to the claimant and their comparator. As regards race and disability, the government proposes to enable claims for pay discrimination where work is ‘rated as equivalent’ or of ‘equal value’, to align with the existing equal pay framework.
The consultation also proposes a new Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit, and a duty on employers (enforceable only by that Unit) to counter employers avoiding equal pay rules by outsourcing services rather than using in-house staff.
Previous call for evidence
This consultation follows an Equality law call for evidence (gov.uk) in April 2025, where the government said, among other things, that it would:
- make the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people
- establish an equal pay regulation and enforcement unit with the involvement of trade unions, and
- ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay.
That link includes the government’s October 2026 response to the call for evidence. As regards equal pay, the main point is that the government has issued the July 2026 consultation above.
