The new gender pay reporting regulations are due to come into force in April 2017, and will require all employers with 250 or more employees to measure and report their gender pay gaps for the first time.
Women currently earn around 18 per cent less on average than men, despite continued efforts to remove barriers in the workplace. Employers have a critical role to play to help close the gender pay gap.
However, despite organisations having to publish their first gender pay gap metrics by April 2018 at the latest, one in four businesses intend to delay this as long as possible, publishing as close as they can to the deadline.
Although proposals to introduce mandatory reporting were announced in October 2015, over half of organisations had no monitoring in place before this time.
To help combat this, the Government Equalities Office and Acas has produced a set of new reporting guidance for employers.
Speaking about the new guidance, Acas Chief Executive Anne Sharp said, “Compulsory gender pay reporting is fast approaching. The new requirement provides a great opportunity for organisations to look at the issue in depth and to consider whether they can do more to develop their talented women and secure the benefits of greater gender diversity at all levels.
“The UK has made progress in reducing the gender pay gap but we still have lots to do – tackling the issue is in the interests of individuals, organisations and the economy as a whole.
“Our new guidance on gender pay reporting provides businesses with practical advice on how to carry out the calculations and on family friendly working to reduce the gap.”
You can access guidance on Gender Pay Reporting regulations here. You can also sign up to the Think, Act, Report campaign to show your company’s commitment to gender equality in the workplace.
The group have also produced additional supporting documents to assist employers, which you can download below:
- Top 10 gender pay gap reporting myths
- Key obligations on gender pay gap reporting for employers
- Optional template for internal communication to employees on gender pay gap reporting
Read our latest articles, news and advice on Gender Pay Gap Reporting:
What can you do to address and challenge the gender pay gap?
New gender pay gap reporting requirements, due to start in 2018, will require large employers to report on their gender pay gaps. For companies with over 250 staff members, the need to report their gender pay gap by April 2018 means that more than 8,000 businesses across the UK might currently be unprepared to meet their legal duties.
Majority of UK employers in the dark about how to handle gender pay reporting
The majority of UK employers are in the dark about how to handle gender pay reporting, according to a new survey. The research, conducted by XpertHR, found that only 6.2 per cent of employers had any formal mechanism in place to monitor their gender pay gap before the legislation was announced.
New gender pay reporting legislation – how should companies respond?
From 5 April, new legislation on gender pay reporting addressing this issue comes into force. For the first time, private-sector, voluntary sector and public-sector organisations with 250 or more employees will have to publish information on gender pay and bonus gaps, documenting the differences between men and women’s pay. The information required will need to cover the mean and median gender pay and gender bonus-pay gaps, as well as information on the proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment. So what are the key things companies need to do to comply with the new legislation?
Government launches new tool to reveal and compare gender pay gap by profession
The government has launched a new online tool that reveals the gender pay gap by professions. The online tool uses the latest data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to provide the most up to date gender pay gap data. The gender pay gap is now at a record low of 18.1 per cent and the online tool will show the gender pay gap by profession, so that the public can see how their job measures up against the national average.
