King's Speech 2024 - Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

Wednesday, 17 July 2024 11:30

Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill “Legislation on race equality will be published in draft to enshrine the full right to equal pay in law” The draft Bill delivers our manifesto commitments to enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people and to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting. This will seek to create a more equal society and support a growing economy. What does the draft Bill...Request free trial

Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

“Legislation on race equality will be published in draft to enshrine the full right to equal pay in law”

The draft Bill delivers our manifesto commitments to enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people and to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting. This will seek to create a more equal society and support a growing economy.

What does the draft Bill do?

The draft Bill will tackle inequality for ethnic minority and disabled people by:

enshrining in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people, making it much easier for them to bring unequal pay claims. Claimants currently face significant barriers when bringing pay discrimination claims on the grounds of ethnicity or disability. Enshrining in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities as well as disabled people will make it easier for them to bring forward equal pay claims where they have been underpaid.

introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers (those with 250+ employees) to help close the ethnicity and disability pay gaps. Surfacing pay gaps will enable companies to constructively consider why they exist and how to tackle them.

Territorial extent and application

The draft Bill is likely to extend and apply to Great Britain, mirroring measures in the Equality Act 2010 relating to equal pay and gender pay reporting.

Key facts

Most ethnic minority groups earn less than the White British group. Between 2012 and 2022, for example, Black, African, Caribbean or Black British employees consistently earned less than their White counterparts.

Although there has been growth in employment rates for disabled people in recent years, disabled people have, on average, lower incomes than non-disabled people. According to the Office for National Statistics, there was a gap of 13.8 per cent in 2021 and 14.1 per cent in 2019 between median pay for disabled employees and non-disabled employees.

Building on the success of the gender pay gap reporting, mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for large employers will expose pay disparity, encouraging employers to take action and coupled with additional equal pay protections allow those who are being underpaid, with greater legal certainty to make a claim.