Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : United Kingdom [2025]

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 received Royal Assent but did not include the provision, contained in the original draft of the Bill, which would have established a mechanism for review and revocation of all retained EU law (including EU-derived subordinate legislation and remaining directly effective provisions of EU law.) Instead it included a list of EU-based statutory instruments it intended to repeal, none of which are relevant to gender equality. The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (which came into force on 1 January 2024) codify a number of EU-derived discrimination protections not already contained in legislation including the 'single source' test for establishing a comparator in an equal pay claim; confirmation that discrimination in employment because of breastfeeding is sex discrimination; and the right to claim indirect discrimination by association. Anti-discrimination legislation in the UK is enforced mainly through the civil courts, with the exception of some minor provisions that provide for criminal sanctions. The relevant judicial systems in the three jurisdictions within the UK are similar but not identical. In each there are first-instance tribunals in which all employment-related cases are heard, and separate civil courts (county courts in NI and England and Wales, sheriff courts in Scotland) for other civil claims. The final civil appeal court for all three jurisdictions is the Supreme Court, which came into being in October 2009, replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council). Non-employment cases are generally heard in the county courts or (in the case of some public law claims) the Administrative Court, with appeal to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.