Equality Act 2010, section 78A
Equality action plan builder for the gender pay gap and menopause
Choose from the 18 actions on GOV.UK’s list, mark each one new or embedded, and write the text inside the service’s word limits while the three rules are checked as you go. Start from your gender pay gap figures and see what they show.
- Rules as of 10 October 2026
- Everything stays in your browser
- For employers with 250 or more staff
Sample plan: and write your own.
Start from your gender pay gap figures
The six measures you publish, as percentages. The diagnosis says what they show and which actions GOV.UK suggests for it; it never guesses a cause. Leave out any you do not have.
The figures from the gender pay gap service, for example DiffMeanHourlyPercent for the mean hourly gap and FemaleLowerQuartile for the lower quartile. No figures yet? Work them out from a payroll export.
Choose your actions
The 18 actions on GOV.UK’s list, in its five groups. Tick an action, then say whether it is new or in progress, or already embedded in how you work.
Write the supporting text
Up to 100 words for each action, with no links and no files. New or in progress actions need text; for embedded actions it is optional.
Choose an action in step 2 and its text box appears here.
Background, and your organisation’s objectives for gender equality.
0 / 200 words
Private and voluntary sector employers name a responsible person, usually a director, partner or senior officer, who confirms the information is accurate.
Copy it into the gender pay gap service
In the order the guidance sets out: the actions and their status, the text for each action, the narrative, your web page and the responsible person.
The analysis and the paperwork Pro
For the people who sign it off, publish it and review it next year.
- Step 1 analysis from your HR exportMen and women at each pay level and grade, starting pay of the year’s hires, bonuses, promotion rates at the same grade, leavers, part-time and flexible working by level, and a baseline for women aged 40 to 60.
- Sign-off pack PDFYour actions, statuses and text, the narrative, a data appendix and an approval page with name, role and date for the responsible person.
- Website plan page, HTML and PDFA self-contained page with your planned and embedded actions, to publish on your own site and link from the service.
- Measures tracker, CSV and PDFA metric, baseline, target, owner and review date for each action. Load last year’s file next year and see the change.
- Staff consultation kitAn anonymous menopause needs survey, a focus group guide and a CSV of the answers you type in.
The plan you write is saved in this browser so you can come back to it, and nothing is sent anywhere. There are no analytics on this page. The HR export for the Pro analysis is read on the page and not stored.
The rules the builder checks
Actions. GOV.UK lists 18 actions in five groups: four groups on the gender pay gap (recruiting staff, developing and promoting staff, building diversity, increasing transparency) and one on supporting employees experiencing menopause. You must choose at least 2: at least one on the gender pay gap and at least one on menopause.
Status. Each action is ‘new or in progress’, which you will work on for the first time or build on, or ‘embedded’, already an established part of how you work. At least 2 must be new or in progress. The published plan shows them as planned actions and embedded actions.
Text. For each new or in progress action, why you chose it and how you will track whether it is improving gender equality, in up to 100 words. For embedded actions you can add how you embedded it and the results. No links and no files. The overall narrative is optional, up to 200 words.
Who, when, and what is not settled
Who. Employers with 250 or more employees, for each legal entity of that size. In the public sector, only the authorities listed in Schedule 19 to the Equality Act 2010 as section 78A sets out; public authorities in Scotland and Wales have different rules.
When. A plan for the 2026 to 2027 reporting year is voluntary and goes with the gender pay gap figures: by 4 April 2027 for private, voluntary and other employers, by 30 March 2027 for most public authorities. Private and voluntary employers name a responsible person.
Not settled. GOV.UK says plans will become mandatory from spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation. The regulations may change the content, the limits or the approval, so every rule here sits in one dated file and the builder prints the date it was checked. The rules with their sources.
Sources: Equality Act 2010, section 78A, inserted by the Employment Rights Act 2025, section 33 (in force 6 April 2026, S.I. 2026/323); GOV.UK, Creating an action plan: guidance for employers (updated 13 May 2026) and Action plans: list of actions; Business.gov.uk, Employer Action Plans (updated 5 October 2026); GOV.UK, When to report (updated 21 May 2026). Last checked 10 October 2026.
What the $79 version writes
A plan the responsible person can sign
Load the sample plan above and the free builder fills in. The PDF below is the sign-off pack Pro wrote for that same synthetic company, in one click.
Free builds the plan
Everything the service asks for.
- The 18 actions with their statuses and the three rules checked live
- Supporting text with word counters and a warning for links
- The quick diagnosis from your published figures
- The whole plan as text, in the order the guidance sets out
Pro does the work around it
For the people who analyse, approve, publish and review.
- The Step 1 analysis from your HR export, with charts
- The sign-off pack PDF with an approval page
- A page for your website, as HTML and PDF
- The measures tracker and the staff consultation kit
Pro
The analysis, the sign-off and next year’s review for your organisation
- The Step 1 analysis from your payroll or HR export, in the browser: pay levels, grades, hires, bonuses, promotions, leavers, flexible working and a baseline for women aged 40 to 60
- A sign-off pack PDF: actions, statuses, text, narrative, data appendix and an approval page for the responsible person
- A website plan page as a self-contained HTML file and a PDF
- The measures tracker as CSV and PDF; next year, load this year’s file and see the change
- A staff consultation kit, and one payment for every reporting entity of your organisation
$79 one-time, per organisation
Buy Pro on GumroadGumroad handles payment and refunds. Your key turns on Pro in this browser; enter it again on another computer. The builder stays free.
Questions
Is an equality action plan mandatory?
Not yet. Employers with 250 or more employees can publish one voluntarily with their gender pay gap figures. GOV.UK says plans will become mandatory from spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation. Section 78A of the Equality Act 2010 gives the power to make those regulations; none had been made or laid in draft when we last checked, on 10 October 2026. What 2027 means, with how advisers read it.
What must the plan include?
At least 2 of the 18 actions on GOV.UK’s list: at least one that addresses the gender pay gap and at least one that supports employees experiencing menopause, and at least 2 must be new or in progress. Each new or in progress action needs supporting text of up to 100 words on why you chose it and how you will track it. An overall supporting narrative of up to 200 words is optional. Every rule with its source.
What is the difference between new or in progress and embedded?
New or in progress means you will be working on the action for the first time or building on something you already do. Embedded means it is already an established part of your working practice. Embedded actions can be added, with optional text on how you embedded them and the results, but they do not count towards the two new or in progress actions.
How are the words counted?
The way the GOV.UK Design System word counter counts them: every run of characters between spaces or line breaks is one word. Part-time is one word, 4 April 2027 is three, and a dash or ampersand with a space on each side counts as one. The gender pay gap service makes the final check.
Who is the responsible person?
Private and voluntary sector employers must name a responsible person when they submit the plan, usually a director, partner or senior officer, who confirms that the information submitted is accurate. Most public authority employers do not need to.
We are a group with several companies. How many plans do we need?
GOV.UK says you must submit an action plan for each separate legal entity with 250 or more employees. Each can have its own actions and text, or you can copy the same actions and narratives into a plan for each entity. One Pro licence covers every reporting entity of your organisation.
Is anything I type uploaded?
No. The plan is kept in your browser on this computer, and the HR export for the Pro analysis is read on the page and never sent anywhere. With Pro, only the licence key is sent to Gumroad to check it.
Is this legal advice?
No. The tool checks your plan against the rules in the GOV.UK guidance, shown with their sources, and helps you write it. You choose the actions and the words, and the employer is responsible for what it submits.
What does Pro include?
For $79, once, per organisation: the Step 1 analysis from your HR export, the sign-off pack PDF for the responsible person, a page for your website as HTML and PDF, the measures tracker as CSV and PDF with last year’s file compared, and a staff consultation kit with an anonymous survey and a focus group guide.
Equality action plan guides
Not legal advice. The builder checks the plan against the rules in the GOV.UK guidance as they stood on the date shown, and helps you write it. The employer chooses the actions and the words and is responsible for what it submits.