April sees a significant tranche of measures coming into force, as a result of the Employment Rights Act ("ERA"). For details on what these are, see April 2026 employment law changes. In addition to this, there have been the following developments relating to the Act over the past month.
Ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting
The UK government response to last year's consultation on mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting has confirmed that the UK government intends to legislate to introduce these measures. Primary legislation will introduce the reporting obligation (most likely via the proposed Equality (Race and Disability) Bill), with separate regulations setting out the detail of what is required. Detailed step-by-step guidance on collecting data and calculating the pay gap will also be produced alongside advice on actions to address the gaps. Guidance on improving employee declaration rates (the number of employees who declare their ethnicity or disability status) will also be provided. As with the gender pay gap, it is only employers with 250 or more employees who will be required to report, but smaller employers will be encouraged to report voluntarily.
The metrics and reporting processes are to be aligned, as far as possible, with the existing gender pay gap reporting regime. This means reporting on the mean and median differences in average hourly pay; the percentage of employees in four equally sized groups ranked from highest to lowest hourly pay (i.e. quartiles); the mean and median differences in bonus pay and the percentage of employees receiving bonus pay. Employers will additionally have to break down their workforce by ethnicity and disability status and declare the proportion of employees who did not share their ethnicity or disability status. Reporting dates will be the same as those currently used for gender pay gap reporting.
Guidance on gender equality action plans published
With effect from April 2026, large employers (250 or more employees) are being encouraged to voluntarily develop and publish equality action plans. The plans will show the steps employers are taking to reduce their gender pay gap and the support available to employees experiencing menopause. The guidance is available here. A separate list of recommended, evidence-informed, actions that can be included in a plan is available here. This provides guidance on topics including recruiting staff, developing and promoting staff, building diversity into your organisation, increasing transparency and supporting employees experiencing menopause. The requirement to produce action plans will become mandatory for larger employers (250 or more employees) in 2027.
Revised Codes of Practice issued
A revised Code of Practice on Industrial Action Ballots and Notice to Employers and a revised Code of Practice on picketing have been published by the UK government. The Codes have been revised to reflect the changes to the law on industrial action and picketing that took effect on 18 February. This included the revocation of the majority of the Trade Union Act 2016.
Fair Work Agency will be able to take enforcement action from 7 April 2026
Regulations have been made that will enable the Fair Work Agency ("FWA") to take enforcement action from its inception on 7 April 2026. From that date, subject to separate commencement regulations being made, the FWA will be able to exercise labour market enforcement and licensing functions. Specifically, this encompasses enforcement of legislation relating to agency workers, gangmaster licensing and labour exploitation. This includes the transfer of powers of investigation of labour market offences from the labour abuse prevention officers of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority ("GLAA"). Although the GLAA is to be abolished, further regulations are expected to come into force on 7 April which will ensure that current investigations may lawfully continue.
