The government has confirmed that it will introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers, but the legislation that would carry it, the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, has not been yet introduced. This is a later picture than our earlier update, which was written when the Bill was newly announced and expected in draft in 2025.
This update covers the position in Great Britain. The Equality Act 2010, which the Bill would amend, and the pay gap reporting regime apply in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a separate equality framework.
The Bill was announced in draft form in the King's Speech of July 2024, to extend equal pay rights and to bring in mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. A public consultation ran from 18 March to 10 June 2025.
On 25 March 2026 the government published its response to that consultation. It confirmed that it is committed to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for employers with 250+ employees. Alongside the response it published indicative clauses to illustrate how the primary legislation might work, rather than publishing a draft of the Bill itself.
The Bill was then not introduced before Parliament had its session formally ended at the end of April 2026, and it was absent from the King's Speech on 13 May 2026. No date has been set for introduction or for the reporting duty to start. The direction is settled but the timing is not, whilst government attention remains on carrying through the Employment Rights Act 2025 across 2026 and into 2027.
The confirmed framework follows the gender pay gap model that already applies to businesses with 250+ employees. These businesses would report their ethnicity and disability pay gaps, the make-up of their workforce by ethnicity and disability, the proportion of staff who have declared that information, and the steps they are taking to close the gaps. None of this is in force yet, and there is no duty to report ethnicity or disability data until the legislation is made and takes effect.
For many screen companies the workforce is well below the 250 threshold, so the duty, when it arrives, will apply to the larger businesses, broadcasters and studios. The value now is in preparation rather than compliance. A business that wants to get ahead can:
Our separate piece on diversity and inclusion reporting sets out what large businesses already must publish, and our article on the new equality action plans covers their gender pay gap and menopause duties.
This update supersedes our earlier piece, Update: Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill - 26/09/2025.
Last updated 29/09/2026