Sarah Johnson reports on the gender pay gap
The gender pay gap overall in the UK is 19.1%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Attempts have been made before to close the pay gap. “Think, Act, Report” was a voluntary reporting initiative launched in 2011. Over 280 organisations signed up, but only four employers published the information. Wonder why?
Statistics can be unreliable, but there is clearly a problem. The government is proposing to address this by introducing mandatory gender pay gap reporting for larger employers. Evidence suggests that, for full-timers under 40, there is little difference between male and female earnings. Hopefully, increased transparency may reduce the remaining gaps.
Section 78 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) provides a power to create regulations requiring employers with 250 or more “employees” to report gender pay gap information. The government’s consultation on closing the pay gap closed on 6 September. The results are to be published this winter with draft regulations expected in the first half of 2016. There may be phased implementation with larger companies (500 plus) having to publish earlier.
The government
