On 14 July 2026, the UK Government published a consultation document on proposed reforms to equal pay and pay transparency requirements for employers in Great Britain (GB). This proposal does not directly impact employers in Northern Ireland, where the position on pay transparency is more complex. Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland has committed to fully transposing the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive after missing the deadline.

 

Phased approach

The consultation proposes a range of reforms which would substantially strengthen current equal pay protections. Changes would be made in two phases. The first phase focuses on implementing preventative measures through new pay transparency requirements, alongside improved enforcement through the employment tribunals and a new Equal Pay Regulatory and Enforcement Unit.

The second phase includes a number of significant changes to the current requirements and remedies available in pay discrimination claims, to “level up” current equal pay and discrimination rules and provide broadly equivalent protection against pay discrimination based on sex, disability and race.

 

Pay transparency

The GB pay transparency proposals include new requirements for:

• Employers to publish information about pay and other conditions in job adverts.
• Employers to provide this information to the candidate in writing before the interview, if no job advert is used

Although some employers currently voluntarily publish salaries or salary ranges for roles, this would be a significant change for many, with an obvious potential impact on both recruitment and within the existing workforce.

The proposals are currently high-level and do not cover the exact pay information which would be required or the types of “conditions” which are covered. These finer details would be set out in regulations. The government will “carefully assess” the specific information to be provided beyond basic salary, with the stated aim of imposing “as little burden as possible” on employers.

The consultation does give an example of “the size of a salary range” as something which could be detailed in those regulations.

 

Are these proposals consistent with the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive?

The Pay Transparency Directive (PTD) has attracted significant attention since passing in May 2023. The implementation deadline for individual member states was 7 June 2026.  The UK is not required to implement the PTD, and it will not directly impact employers in the UK (except potentially in Northern Ireland – see below).

Under the PTD, applicants must receive information about the “initial pay or its range” for the role in a manner which ensures an “informed and transparent negotiation” on pay. It gives several examples of when it could be provided, including the job advert or prior to interview, but stipulates that it could be provided “otherwise prior to the conclusion of any employment contract”.

The GB proposal is more specific and sets the exact stage in the recruitment process where this information would be provided.

However, the GB proposals are limited to providing information during recruitment and selection processes. The PTD goes much further, with a ban on employers requesting a candidate’s historic salary information and rights to request information about comparators doing the same or equivalent work. The GB’s proposals fall quite far short of these additional EU requirements.

 

Where does this leave Northern Ireland?

The position in Northern Ireland is more nuanced. Given employment law is devolved, these GB proposals and resulting legislation would not apply in NI. Historically NI has followed the wider GB approach on employment law and may decide to follow the same approach, using the eventual GB legislation as the basis for the NI legislation.

However, since the PTD passed in 2023, there is a more complex debate about whether it should apply in NI under the “dynamic alignment” principle in the Windsor Framework. This principle requires NI law to keep pace with developments in EU law in certain areas, including equality law.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission released a briefing paper in March 2024. This confirmed their assessment that, since the PTD (with limited exceptions) substantively amends an existing EU directive on equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in employment, it engages the dynamic alignment principle and must be transposed into NI law by the UK government by 7 June 2026.

For now, the position for employers in NI remains uncertain and will depend on both the UK and NI governments. Their approach will be influenced by the recent Supreme Court decision in Dillon, handed down in May 2026, which confirmed that the “non-diminution” principle in article 2(1) of the Windsor Framework is capable of having “direct effect” (meaning that it can be enforced directly by individuals in the UK courts) in certain circumstances.

The June 2026 deadline to transpose the PTD into NI law has obviously passed and neither governments have signalled an intention to introduce draft legislation. The GB consultation proposal specifically clarifies that it applies to GB only and does not mention NI or its specific circumstances at all.  The delay is perhaps unsurprising given the legal complexity and we await clarification of the UK government’s intentions following the judgment in Dillon.

 

What should NI employers do now?

Employers operating solely in NI can take a “wait and see” approach while the legal position is clarified. Employers who operate across the UK may choose to implement the GB requirements in NI for consistency within their UK workforce. There is an obvious potential for employee relations to be damaged if pay transparency measures are introduced for the GB workforce but exclude NI.

Similarly, employers who operate in Republic of Ireland or elsewhere in the EU may decide to implement those requirements in NI on a voluntary basis for internal consistency. These approaches would then be tailored to match any eventual NI requirements.

The direction of travel in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland is clear and some degree of pay transparency reform is likely in NI in the medium term. NI employers operating in the UK, Republic of Ireland or elsewhere in the EU will likely come under pressure to implement equivalent pay transparency practices for their NI workforce, regardless of whether there is a legal obligation.

Employers can anticipate these changes by reviewing their internal pay structures and identifying any obvious inconsistencies, and consider how they should present pay information during recruitment processes. Employers should be prepared for questions from candidates and existing employees once pay transparency measures have been implemented, including requests for salary review or grievances from employees, and potentially an increase in discrimination-based allegations.

Otherwise, NI employers should continue to monitor developments, both in GB and locally. The GB consultation goes beyond pay transparency and includes significant reforms affecting equal pay claims which could eventually be replicated in NI.

 

What about the Republic of Ireland?

The Republic of Ireland, like many other member states, did not fully transpose the PTD by the 7 June 2026 deadline. The Republic of Ireland had already transposed pay gap reporting aspects of the PTD with the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021.

Draft legislation was published in January 2025 which would require employers to provide candidates with information about salary or salary range in job advertisements, and prohibiting employers from asking candidates about their historic salary information.  The Irish government then indicated that these requirements would be covered by the Pay Transparency Bill, which would transpose the remainder of the PTD into Irish law.

The Bill was included in the legislative programme for summer 2026 but not given priority. The Irish government has confirmed that the Bill will be implemented on a phased basis, and employers will not be penalised for not complying with all elements of the PTD by the June deadline. The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality indicated that the necessary work was “ongoing at pace” to fully transpose the PTD into Irish law “as soon as possible”.

 

Wider equal pay reforms

The GB consultation also covers a range of significant reforms to the current rules around pay discrimination claims in GB. The main proposals include:

• Empowering employment tribunals to modify discriminatory terms in employment contracts on the grounds of disability or race, similar to the current rules on “sex equality” clauses.
• Reintroducing optional standard questionnaires for prospective equal pay claimants to obtain information pre-proceedings.
• Reviewing the current rules of procedure for equal pay claims.
• Requiring employment tribunals to order equal pay audits where an employer has breached their obligations, unless a suitable review has been completed in the last three years.
• Requiring employment tribunals to order these employers to implement job evaluation schemes unless a suitable scheme is already in place.
• Allowing race and disability pay discrimination claims where work has been “rated as equivalent” or of “equal value”, in line with current equal pay protections.
• Allowing equal pay claims to be based on hypothetical (rather than actual) comparators in two limited scenarios: (1) where a successor is paid more than their predecessor or (2) where an employee’s salary is increased to match a new hire in the same role.

 

For legal guidance and advice regarding pay transparency requirements or any Employment Law queries, please contact Patricia Rooney, or another member of our Employment Team for more information.

While great care has been taken in the preparation of the content of this article, it does not purport to be a comprehensive statement of the relevant law and full professional advice should be taken before any action is taken in reliance on any item covered.