Equal pay: UK employment law

Essential points

• Equal pay for equal work refers to the call for men and women in the same employment and performing equal work, to receive equal pay. This right is enforced under the Equality Act 2010.
• The right to equal pay applies to employees, workers (including agency workers), on full-, part-time, or temporary contracts, apprentices and self-employed people. 
• Equal work is ‘like work’ (involving similar tasks, knowledge and skills), ‘work rated as equivalent’ (under a job evaluation scheme) or ‘work of equal value’ (not similar but equivalent in effort, skill and decision-making).
• For an equal pay claim to be placed the claimant will need to identify a “comparator” and show that their pay or conditions are worse. The comparator is someone of the opposite sex within their organisation, or an ‘associated’ organisation.
• Not ensuring equal pay in an organisation risks reputational damage and costly legal claims.
• Equal pay is not the same as gender pay gap reporting, the latter of which is covered in this employment law page. 

Under the Race Equality Act the Labour government intends to extend the right to make equal pay claims to black, Asian and minority ethnic and disabled workers.

This page outlines the current legislation around equal pay that should still be followed until any changes come into force. We will update this page once details of any changes are confirmed.