From the outset (with the adoption of the Equal Pay Act in 1970), British equal pay legislation was based on a weak and flawed framework, which was remedied only partially by repeated revisions, in response to external pressure (from the EEC/EU). Legislators showed continued reluctance to address the weaknesses of the framework. The equality machinery includes relatively strong formal enforcement powers but in practice these are subject to political authority (crucially, over appointments and financial resources). Several significant equal pay cases continue to make their way through the long tribunal procedure. Today the achievements of equal pay campaigners and litigants – and potentially the very principle of equal pay for work of equal value – are threatened by post-Brexit deregulation. Meanwhile gender pay gap reporting (introduced in 2017) increased information and stimulated awareness in the corporate world, but generated only limited change. Alongside proposals to strengthen and extend reporting, campaigners highlight the need for greater transparency of salary information, additional powers for tribunals to elicit information from employers, and supportive measures to improve the UK’s weak work-family policy.
