Occupational segregation – Government action

UK Government actions

• In March 2021, as part of its Build Back Better plan for growth and 2021 Budget, the UK Government announced it would increase the incentive payment to businesses to take on a new apprentice to £3,000. It also announced that an extra £126 million would be available to triple the number of traineeships.
• In July 2020, the UK Government published its Plan for Jobs 2020 strategy, which included commitments to support people to find work and gain skills. These included: the Kickstart Scheme, a £2 billion fund to provide six-month job placements for young people at risk of long-term unemployment; £111 million additional funding for traineeships for young people aged 16 to 24 in England; and funding to triple the number of sector-based work academy placements in England.
• In July 2019, the UK Government published Gender equality at every stage: a roadmap for change, setting out plans to tackle gendered occupational segregation. These included commitments to deepen the evidence base on the root causes of limiting aspirations and attitudes, improve advice and support in schools to challenge gender stereotypes, and invest in programmes to increase participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
• In November 2017, the UK Government published ‘Improving lives: The future of work, health and disability’, a strategy to get one million more disabled people into work by 2027.
• In July 2017, the report of the UK Government-commissioned independent Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices was published, which included recommendations for advancing equality and fairness across different sectors of the labour market. The report highlighted that increasing atypical work, and the growing participation of women and older workers, could drive greater flexibility. In 2018, the UK Government held consultations on four of the issues covered by the review. The UK Government’s response to the review and its action plan for taking forward the recommendations was published in December 2018.
• In April 2017, the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 came into force, which requires all private and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees to publish prescribed information about their gender pay gap results. In March 2017, the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 came into force, which includes the same reporting requirements for all listed public sector employers in England with 250 or more employees, and a limited number of non-devolved bodies.
• In February 2017, a UK Government-commissioned independent review into the progression of Black and ethnic minority talent in the workplace – the McGregor-Smith Review – was published. The report sets out recommendations for businesses and government. In October 2018, the UK Government published a one-year on report to assess progress against employers’ implementation of the recommendations from the McGregor-Smith Review.