Compulsory gender pay-gap reporting



In March 2017, compulsory gender pay gap (GPG) reporting became law for all employers with 250 or more employees in the public, private and voluntary sector.


In the private sector, GPG reporting is governed by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.


In the public sector, equivalent GPG regulations – the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 – came into force on 31 March 2017. They affect only England (this is a devolved matter). Many public bodies already publish this kind of information to fulfil their PSED obligations (see page 280).


Here are the regime’s key features:


• The GPG regulations use the wider definition of “employee” found in the EA 10 (see page 229), meaning that some freelancers who are integrated into the workforce may be included, but there is an exemption where the employer does not have the wage data and cannot reasonably get hold of it.


• The mean and median hourly pay gap between men and women must be published annually. “Pay” includes any bonuses.


• In the private and voluntary sector, pay data must be based on a “snapshot” date of staff employed on 5 April each year, starting from 5 April 2017.


• Public sector employers must use 31 March as their snapshot date.


• Only those on full pay should used to work out “mean” and “median” pay, to avoid skewing the figures with reduced pay during maternity leave or sick leave.


• Employers must also report the annual bonus gap between men and women, and the proportion of male and female employees who received a bonus that year. “Bonus” is defined widely to include commission and securities. Bonus information must be based on the preceding 12-month period.


• Employers must also publish the numbers of men and women in each of four quartile pay bands.


The data must be published on the employer’s website by April 2018, and stay there for three years. It must also be uploaded to a government website www.gov.uk/report-gender-pay-gap-data. It remains unclear whether the Government will use this to generate sector-by-sector “league tables”.


The TUC has said that it welcomes any move towards securing equal pay but that the new regime does not go far enough: Bosses should be required to explain why pay gaps exist and what action will be taken to narrow them – such as properly supported return to work plans after maternity leave, and better career progression. In addition, non-compliance should lead to tough sanctions and fines. Otherwise, gender pay gap reporting risks becoming a “tick-box exercise”. 



The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has developed an interactive tool called Find the Gender Pay Gap for your job, available from the ONS website at https://visual.ons.gov.uk/find-out-the-gender-pay-gap-for-your-job.