The Gender Pay Gap is one of those terms that we hear and see in the news a lot – historically and currently there exists a Gender Pay Gap, women, on average are paid less than men.
The Equal Pay Act 1970 now covered in the Equality Act 2010, aimed to reduce inequalities in pay, with the intention being that men and women are entitled to be paid the same pay including benefits, wherever they are performing equal work.
However, the Gender Pay Gap still exists and to address this, the government has introduced a requirement for organisations who employ 250 or more staff to publish information about their Gender Pay Gap. Employees, apprentices and workers who have a contract personally to do work are all included in the calculation of staff numbers.
It is important that businesses know when this comes into play and their obligations under the Gender Pay Gap Reporting requirements.
These Regulations come into force on 6 April 2017 and require reports to be published on the Gender Pay Gap based on a snapshot date of 5 April every year. Reports are also required on the Gender Bonus Gap which is assessed based on the 12 months leading up to the 5 April each year. For the public sector the snapshot date is 31 March each year.
The first reports must be published within 12 months of 5 April 2017, so need to be completed and published by 4 April 2018.
The reports must demonstrate:
- the difference in mean pay between male and female employees;
- the difference in median pay between male and female employees;
- the difference in mean bonus pay between male and female employees;
- the difference in median bonus pay between male and female employees;
- the proportions of male and female employees who were paid bonus pay; and
- the proportions of male and female employees in each quartile of their pay distribution
The reports must be published on both a government website and the employers own website. The report can be accompanied by a narrative from the organisation explaining their Gender Pay Gap.
The reporting requirement can become complicated when dealing with part time workers, zero hour contracts, those on maternity or other parental leave and staff who leave or join during the reporting year. The key requirement is to count staff who are receiving their full pay during the pay reference period.
While there are no sanctions in the regulations for non-compliance, the Equality and Human Rights Commission have the authority to take enforcement action for failure to comply with the duty. There is also the reputational damage to your business to for non-compliance.
Howells’ expert employment law team know that your time is precious when running a business but we are also aware of the commercial and reputational importance of completing your reports accurately and in time. We can take the pressure away from you by helping you with your reporting requirements.
For further information about how we can help please contact us on 01142496666 or ask.employment@howellsllp.com or @howellsemplaw on Twitter
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