Brexit: EU-derived equal pay protections to be brought back

Women volition inactive person the close to adjacent wage with men for doing akin jobs adjacent though an EU instrumentality guaranteeing it was scrapped, the authorities says.

The extortion - which is aimed astatine helping workers whose jobs person been outsourced - was axed successful a post-Brexit purge of EU-derived laws.

But the authorities has said it volition present reinstate the close nether UK law.

It comes aft Labour accused ministers of removing protections for low-paid women done the backdoor.

Under UK equality law, men and women successful the aforesaid employment performing adjacent enactment indispensable person adjacent pay, unless immoderate quality tin beryllium justified.

But this does not ever screen women who enactment for outsourcing companies oregon those employed successful antithetic locations to men but doing akin jobs.

An EU regularisation - known arsenic the "single root test" - closed this loophole, giving workers the close to adjacent wage if they yet enactment for the aforesaid "source".

It helped low-paid women instrumentality enactment against their employers implicit pay, but was 1 of hundreds of laws to beryllium abolished by January 2024 under the EU Retained Law Act, which was passed successful June.

On Tuesday evening, the authorities announced that it was readying to reinstate the authorities by the extremity of the year.

"There volition beryllium perfectly nary simplification successful adjacent wage protections," a spokesperson for the government's Equalities Hub said.

"The caller secondary authorities volition beryllium laid successful Parliament agelong earlier the extremity of the year."

It came aft Labour accused the authorities of destroying the rights of immoderate of the country's lowest paid women - and promised to reinstate the "single source" trial if it wins power.

Posting connected X, formerly known arsenic Twitter, aft the government's announcement, Labour's shadiness women and equalities caput Anneliese Dodds said: "A Tory U-turn wrong hours of Labour committing to support captious adjacent wage rights for women.

"But women volition wonderment if the enactment that enactment these rights astatine hazard tin truly beryllium trusted to support them.

"Only Labour volition enactment to present adjacent wage justness for women."

Supermarket giants, including Asda and Tesco, person faced ineligible enactment implicit wage differences betwixt store workers and warehouse staff.

Labour-run Birmingham City Council has been forced to wage retired £760m to settee adjacent wage claims.

And SNP-led Glasgow City Council is inactive progressive in a long-running ineligible conflict implicit pay, contempt paying retired a full of £500m to existent and erstwhile workers.

Workers successful female-dominated roles specified arsenic catering oregon cleaning staged strikes due to the fact that they were getting up to £3 an hr little than those successful male-dominated areas specified arsenic garbage collection.