The Office for Equality and Opportunity, formerly known as the Government Equalities Office, is the office of the British government with responsibility for social equality, led by the Minister for Women and Equalities. It has been part of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since July 2026, having previously been based in the Cabinet Office.
The Office for Equality and Opportunity is responsible for leading on equality policy including women's equality, race equality, LGBT+ equality, disability equality, socio-economic equality and the overall framework of equality legislation for the UK. It contains three smaller equalities units within it known as the Disability Unit, the Race Equality Unit and the Women and Equalities Unit.
History Prime minister Gordon Brown created the Government Equalities Office (GEO) as a new ministerial department on 12 October 2007, led by Harriet Harman as Minister for Women and Equality, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons.
When David Cameron became prime minister, the GEO was transferred to become a part of the Home Office, led by Theresa May as Minister for Women and Equalities and Home Secretary. Between 2012 and 2019, the GEO was transferred again repeatedly to the department that the new Minister for Women and Equalities was concurrently the Secretary of State for.
In October 2024, the GEO was renamed the Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO).
Until July 2026, the women and equalities ministerial team were typically appointed to the department that the Minister for Women and Equalities led by virtue of their other Cabinet appointment. For example, between July 2024 and July 2026, under Bridget Phillipson (Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for Education), all OEO ministers were appointed to the Department for Education. Since July 2026, the women and equalities ministerial team have been appointed to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Ministers and spokespersons
, the OEO ministers and spokespersons are as follows:
Minister Portrait Office Portfolio Bridget Phillipson Minister for Women and Equalities Promoting equality of opportunity for everyone, and reducing negative disparities; Strategic oversight of the government’s equality policy, for women, ethnicity, disability and LGBT+; Overall sponsorship of the Social Mobility Commission and Equality and Human Rights Commission; Overview of the overarching equalities legislative framework. Stephen Timms Minister of State (Minister for Equalities)Satvir Kaur Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities)Simon Lightwood Lord Collins of Highbury
Budget The budget for the GEO reached £76 million in 2010–2011. Following a spending review this was set to decrease each year, to £47.1 million in 2014–2015. The budget continued to decrease year-on-year, with £16.7 million being allocated in 2019–2020.
Governance
DatesCabinet MinisterUnit statusOctober 2007 – May 2010Harriet HarmanIndependent departmentMay 2010 – September 2012Theresa MayHome OfficeSeptember 2012 – April 2014Maria MillerDepartment for Culture, Media and SportApril–July 2014Nicky Morgan (for women) Sajid Javid (for equalities)July 2014 – July 2016Nicky MorganDepartment for EducationJuly 2016 – January 2018Justine GreeningJanuary–April 2018Amber RuddHome OfficeApril 2018 – April 2019Penny MordauntDepartment for International DevelopmentApril 2019 – September 2019Cabinet OfficeJuly–September 2019Amber RuddSeptember 2019 – September 2022Liz TrussSeptember 2022 – October 2022Nadhim ZahawiOctober 2022 – July 2024Kemi BadenochJuly 2024 – July 2026Bridget PhillipsonJuly 2026 – presentMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Controversies In June 2011, it emerged that female staff at the GEO received 7.7% more pay than males on average. The information came to light following a Freedom of Information request by MP Dominic Raab. The enquiry also revealed that almost two thirds of the department's 107 staff were female. Raab criticised the department for double standards, stating "It undermines the credibility of the equality and diversity agenda, if bureaucrats at the government equalities office are preaching about unequal representation and the pay gap, whilst practising reverse". The differences between the genders became marked from 2008 under the leadership of Harriet Harman with the pay gap almost doubling from that time and six out of seven new jobs going to women.
In an interview about her role, director Hilary Spencer said:
See also Minister for Women and Equalities Women and Equalities Committee
References
External links