ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of the EU in social policy matters. In the Communities originally, the main distinctly ‘social’ concern was the requirement for equal pay for equal work for men and women (including the question of pensions), i.e. gender equality. With the Single European Act 1986, the treaty basis for social policy started to expand, culminating in the ‘Social Charter’ in the Treaty of Maastricht, from which the UK opted out initially.
