The Employment Rights Act 2025 ("ERA 2025") will introduce a new obligation requiring employers with 250 or more employees to develop and publish an equality action plan detailing the steps they are taking to promote gender equality, including addressing the gender pay gap and supporting women during the menopause.

Whilst reporting has been voluntary since 6 April 2026, employers can get ahead of the 2027 mandatory reporting obligation by acting now.

The existing obligation and the new duty

Employers with 250 or more employees are already required under the Gender Pay Gap (Information) Regulations 2017 to publish annual gender pay gap data but publishing figures alone is no longer enough. The ERA 2025 goes further: employers will be obligated to put an action plan in place setting out the concrete steps they are taking to address their gap covering recruitment, promotion, flexible working, and equal pay audits.

To assist large employers, the government published guidance on creating an action plan which sets out six steps for employers to take:

• Step 1: Understand the issues
• Step 2: Choose actions
• Step 3: Write a supporting narrative
• Step 4: Submit an action plan
• Step 5: Track outcomes
• Step 6: Review the plan

Employers must be working on at least two actions at any time and are able to revise their list at the end of each year.

Menopause awareness: A growing legal risk

The ERA 2025 framework brings menopause squarely within the scope of the new equality action plan obligations. The legal exposure is considerable. Menopause symptoms may constitute a disability under the Equality Act 2010, triggering a duty to make reasonable adjustments. Failure to do so can give rise to claims of disability, sex, and age discrimination. Harassment claims are increasingly common and Employment Tribunal awards in this area are rising.

Why this matters

A well-devised action plan can help demonstrate your organisation’s commitment to take equality seriously. Equally, once the duty becomes mandatory, employers are likely to face sanctions for failing to comply, which could include being publicly named on a list of non-compliant employers. This in turn may make it more difficult for your organisation to attract new talent as well as retain existing employees.

Next steps for employers

If your organisation has not yet produced a gender pay gap action plan, or if your existing plan does not address menopause, you should consider putting together a compliant plan ahead of the requirement becoming mandatory.

As a start point, we recommend reading the government guidance with a view to auditing your pay gap data, reviewing your policies, training line managers, and documenting all steps taken. To discuss the equality action plans in further details, please contact our specialist employment team.