UK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Diane Gilhooley and Paul Fontes, Eversheds Sutherland
ency requirements. As well as reporting and informa - tion obligations, it includes: • requirements for salary transparency at the recruit - ment stage; • remedial action where there is a pay gap; and • compulsory pay audits where a gender pay gap report shows an average pay gap of at least 5%. Whether the UK government will ultimately legislate to mirror the higher requirements of the EU Directive remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, the global landscape continues to move towards greater transparency, including an increasing expectation amongst job applicants and workforces that pay information will be made available. This means that a trend is likely to be seen of UK businesses choosing to go beyond the existing UK requirements, including to achieve a consistent approach where they have other operating locations in the EU and beyond. Equal pay litigation: an active landscape The equal pay litigation landscape in the UK has remained active for many years and is often distin - guished by high numbers of group action claims. The current legal framework for equal pay has to date been confined to sex, with employees who experi - ence pay disparities due to other protected charac - teristics having to instead seek redress through direct discrimination claims, with arguably greater evidential difficulty. The government proposes to change this by making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people, with a call for evidence anticipated to inform that approach. Looking ahead, a reshaping of the equal pay land - scape is anticipated as a result of the proposed reforms. Greater transparency around pay disparities could result in more challenges and potentially more claims. Practical implications Businesses should act to ensure that they have the infrastructure in place to be able to respond to the equality reforms. For employers with 250 or more employees, planning measures should include report - ing on gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap figures
for relevant employees and the preparation of action plans. Technology Driving Workforce Change The use of AI in the workplace is driving a wave of change in the job market by creating new roles, enhancing existing ones and prompting organisa - tions to rethink how work is structured. Employers are implementing systems in an increasing range of scenarios that include recruitment, workforce man - agement, redundancy and dismissal, etc. At the same time, a growing number of job applicants and workers are using AI to support their personal performance. As a result, companies are launching a range of ini - tiatives to align talent with evolving workforce needs, often including reskilling programmes, redefined job roles and restructuring programmes. The legal framework: a pro-innovation approach to AI To date, the UK government has adopted a pro-inno - vation regulatory approach, and there is currently no AI-specific UK employment legislation. Employers and employees must therefore look to the current legisla - tive framework. This will include (but is not limited to) consideration of: • potential claims under the Equality Act 2010, given that some AI tools have the potential to exhibit or learn bias that can result in (unintended) discrimi - natory outcomes in their decision-making pro - cesses; • obligations to inform and/or consult trade unions/ worker representatives before implementing new AI tools, specifically under health and safety legisla - tion and/or any existing collective agreements; and • compliance with data protection laws. Despite calls from trade unions and others for further UK regulation (along the lines of the EU’s AI Act), the government has restated its commitment to its pro- innovative stance for the time being. Separately, UK regulators, including the body responsible for data protection (the Information Commissioner’s Office; ICO), are expanding their compliance activities. For example, the ICO plans to introduce a statutory code
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