Ministers have been urged to pass legislation that would protect whistleblowers who expose employers who flout forthcoming UK diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) laws.
The equality (race and disability) bill, which the equalities minister Seema Malhotra has described as part of the government’s “absolute” commitment to DEI, is expected to be published this year.
As law, the bill would compel employers with more than 250 staff to reveal whether white and non-disabled staff are paid more than Black, minority ethnic and disabled employees, in the same way that employers have to report gender pay gaps.
It is also expected to establish an equal pay regulatory and enforcement unit to prevent pay discrimination and could compel employers to produce action plans on what they are doing to improve equality.
Responses to the consultation, which is being used to shape the bill and closed in June, include proposals that legislation protects whistleblowers who report employers hiding pay gap information.
The proposal is in stark contrast to what is unfolding in the US, where under Donald Trump’s presidency, officials have urged “private parties” to help them identify “illegal” DEI programmes, including financial incentives for those who file whistleblower claims against federal contractors trying to tackle racial inequality.
The UK whistleblower proposal has been made by the Black Equity Organisation (BEO) – whose founders in 2021 included the foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the broadcaster and academic David Olusoga.
In partnership with Sky, BEO runs F100 Growth Fund, which supports Black entrepreneurs – who in the UK and the US account for less than 1% of venture capital investment – with funding and mentoring, and has been pressing ministers to “tackle racial inequality at source” through pay gap reporting.
In its submission to the government’s consultation, the BEO said: “Any final enforcement regime should include the ability to issue public notices, making public the names of companies who fail to submit their ethnicity pay gap reports.
“Support for whistleblowers is also essential”, it added, and there should be “a confidential channel for employees who report concerns to ensure they are not penalised.”
The BEO also urged government to ensure pay gap data is fully disaggregated to reflect “important differences in experiences and outcomes” between Black and minority ethnic groups, and called for mandatory pay gap reporting to be extended to employers with more than 50 staff, to cover lower-paid workers in smaller companies, which the TUC federation of trade unions has also called for.
In its submission to the consultation, the TUC said: “If the legislation is to be effective … it needs to apply to the majority of workplaces.”
The new equality bill comes amid political backlash against fairness measures – represented by Reform UK and the conservative Blue Labour faction of the Labour party – inspired by Trump’s attacks on DEI.
In the US, measures trying to tackle racial inequality have been labelled “discriminatory”. In May, a Department of Justice memo said the False Claims Act would be used against federal contractors “knowingly engaging in racist preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities, including through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that assign benefits or burdens on race, ethnicity, or national origin,” promising “sharing in any monetary recovery” to whistleblowers who bring successful anti-DEI lawsuits.
A UK government spokesperson said it was “committed to introducing disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting into legislation in the king’s speech. Our consultation on mandatory reporting has now closed and we are reviewing all of the responses”.