Response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

On 17 March, the Government published its response to the report issued by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in March 2021.

Within the policy paper, ‘Inclusive Britain’, the Government sets out a range of measures it intends to implement in response to the findings of the Commission’s report.

Key points for employers from the paper are:

• The Government confirmed that it will not introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting at this stage, however, the Government does intend to support employers with voluntary reporting – BEIS will publish guidance on voluntary ethnicity pay gap reporting in summer 2022;
• Later in 2022, the Office for Artificial Intelligence will set out a national position on governing and regulating AI, which will include plans on how to address the potential for racial bias in algorithmic decision-making;
• Newly updated guidance on positive action will be published by the Government Equalities Office by December 2022, this will help employers seeking to introduce policies to improve representation and provide opportunities to unrepresented groups in the workforce.

You can read the policy paper here.

At Rahman Lowe, our employment solicitors regularly advise clients on all aspects of employment law for both employees and employers. For further information or to speak to one of our highly experienced employment law solicitors, please contact us on 020 3950 5234 or info@rllaw.co.uk.