Sign in My Account
Business news

Northern Ireland pauses plans to extend pay gap reporting to ethnicity and disability

Posted By:
Lewis Silkin

11th Nov 2025

“Northern Ireland’s long-awaited pay gap reporting framework marks an important step toward greater pay transparency,” says leading Belfast employment law specialists Lewis Silkin. “While the decision not to extend reporting to ethnicity and disability at this stage may be surprising, the Department’s commitment to keep the issue under review shows that this remains part of the longer-term equality agenda.”

Once seen as a potential leader in pay transparency, Northern Ireland has now paused plans to extend pay gap reporting to include ethnicity and disability, according to the Department for Communities’ recently published synopsis of consultation responses.

The proposals to broaden gender pay gap reporting—originally set out in the Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 2016—had aimed to create a more inclusive and comprehensive pay transparency regime. However, following the Department’s public consultation, which received 45 responses from across the private, public, and voluntary sectors, the government has confirmed that the additional reporting measures will not be implemented “for now.”

Leeanne Armstrong, managing associate at Lewis Silkin says while there was broad support in principle for reporting on ethnicity and disability pay gaps, respondents highlighted significant concerns regarding feasibility and data protection.

“These included the absence of legal obligations for employers to collect such data, ambiguity around definitions, privacy risks stemming from small datasets, and reluctance among employees to disclose disability information,” says Ms Armstrong.

Paul Gillen, partner and global DEI chair at Lewis Silkin added: “The Department concluded that extending the gender pay gap regulations to include ethnicity and disability would not currently be legally enforceable and could face legal challenge. Employers are not legally required to collect data on employees’ ethnic origin or disability, and disclosure remains voluntary,” he says. “Although Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 encourages equality monitoring, mandatory reporting is currently limited to gender and community background.”

While these proposals have been shelved, the Department stated it would maintain a “watching brief” on the UK Government’s forthcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which will implement disability and ethnicity reporting for the first time, suggesting future alignment remains possible.

The consultation also sought views on which employers should fall under mandatory gender pay gap reporting obligations. The Department has confirmed that reporting will apply to all employers across the private, public, and voluntary sectors but has yet to settle on the headcount threshold.

Only 38% of respondents agreed that the proposed threshold of 250 or more employees was suitable for Northern Ireland, where smaller business sizes are common. Lowering the threshold to 100 employees could expand coverage by nearly 10%, but the Department appears to be waiting for clarity on the implications of the EU Pay Transparency Directive (PTD), under which the threshold is also 100+ employees, and which may apply in NI under post-Brexit arrangements via the Windsor Framework.

In line with the rest of the UK, the Northern Ireland regime will require employers to publish gender pay gap data annually, using the same methodology, frequency, and snapshot dates. Employers will need to publish their data on their websites, with a central government portal under consideration.

Northern Ireland will also require employers to produce action plans alongside their reports, which is not a current requirement in Great Britain, but will become so under new legislation. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland will oversee enforcement, with further details on sanctions to follow.

The Department plans to introduce the necessary regulations once the Good Jobs Employment Bill receives Royal Assent, meaning implementation is still some way off.

While the decision not to pursue ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting may disappoint equality advocates, the Department’s response leaves the door open for future reform, particularly as wider UK and EU pay transparency initiatives continue to evolve.