Asking questions about pay


Equal pay claims became harder with the abolition, on 6 April 2014, of the statutory equal pay questionnaire – a straightforward but formal questionnaire procedure that enabled a woman to ask her employer for information about pay, to help her decide whether to issue equal pay proceedings in the tribunal. 



Although the formal questionnaire has been abolished, women can still ask structured questions in writing about their pay, as Acas guidance, Asking and responding to questions of discrimination in the workplace, makes clear. The guidance can be downloaded from the Acas website.



Tribunals can take into account evasive or incomplete answers about pay when deciding whether an employer has discriminated unlawfully.



The Acas guidance suggests a three-step approach to asking questions about pay:



• identify your comparator; 



• explain how they are doing equal work to you; and



• ask further relevant pay-related questions, such as, how is pay determined by the employer and what is in the comparator’s job description that could explain the difference in pay.


The Acas guidance is designed to support individuals when asking questions about their pay. In practice, fair pay outcomes are much more likely to be secured where a collective approach is taken. Where a union is recognised, the employer owes specific statutory duties to disclose information about pay for the purposes of collective bargaining (see Chapter 5).