Farage’s plan for equal pay legislation may cost female workers money, say unions

A law proposed by Nigel Farage to “strengthen women’s rights” could cost female workers money by removing equal pay for work of equal value, unions have said.

A proposal, made by Reform UK days before the Makerfield byelection, to introduce a Women and Motherhood Protection Act that it says will restore equality before the law has been described as “shameless and deceptive”.

The new policy, which would supersede the 2010 Equality Act, is said by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to put in doubt the right for equal pay from jobs that are different but demand comparable levels of skill, effort and responsibility.

There have been a number of payouts forced by the Equality Act. More than 3,500 workers at the clothes store Next won a six-year battle in 2024 when an employment tribunal said store staff, who are predominantly women, should not have been paid at lower rates than employees in warehouses, where just over half the staff are male.

Under Reform UK’s plan, Farage’s party has suggested women’s rights are better protected by laws made in the 1970s and 90s. It has said that the Equal Pay Act 1970 ensures that women and men receive the same pay for the same work and that the Employment Rights Act 1996 ensured rights to parental leave and protection against unfair dismissal.

The party has said that, in addition, their new act will extend the time limit for pregnancy and maternity claims of unfair dismissal from three months to 12 months.

Reform UK’s candidate in Makerfield, Rob Kenyon, has been accused of making offensive comments about women on social media. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

In a press release, which followed weeks of criticism of their candidate in Makerfield over alleged past comments about women, the party said a “Reform UK government will be the most pro-woman, pro-mother and pro-family government in modern British history”.

The party added that “women will retain the right to receive the same pay for the same work, while ensuring that equal pay law remains focused on genuine cases of pay discrimination rather than allowing courts and tribunals to determine the relative value of fundamentally different occupations”.