03 January 2018

Regulations made under The Equality Act 2010 requires employers with 250 or more “employees” to publish information relating to pay in order to highlight any differences that exist in the pay received by men and women.

In 2017, Regulations were brought into force requiring such employers to publish certain metrics by April 2018 on the employer’s own website and the Government’s dedicated website. The publication process should take place annually. See our previous blog: Workplace culture and its effect on pay gaps.

The rules in this regard are complex and it will take time to identify the data, analyse it and then issue the relevant pieces of information (with appropriate explanations). A number of companies have already done this. Good Government guidance (and the publication information) can be found here.

The House of Commons Library has issued a briefing paper containing statistics on the size of the gender pay gap in the UK. It also looks at some of the reasons why the gender pay gap exists.  The paper shows that among full-time employees women tend to be paid less per hour than men, while the opposite is true for part-time contracts. Median hourly pay for full-time employees was 9.1% less for women than for men as at April 2017.

The report also shows that:

• median hourly pay for part-time employees was 5.1% higher for women than for men (figures exclude overtime pay)
• a much higher share of women than men are employed part-time and part-time workers tend to earn less per hour than those working full-time
• there has been a downwards trend in the full-time pay gap since 1997 and the overall pay gap has also decreased over the period

Identifying whether the rules apply can be tricky given the definition of “employees” and rules about group companies etc. Expert legal advice is recommended to identify what, if any obligations arise and how best to implement the legal obligations.

Even if the Regulations are not likely to apply, it is good practice to consider the impact of the gender pay gap throughout an organisation and how this can be minimised to ensure fairness and equality. Doing so not only reduces the potential for equal pay claims, it also ensures that the best staff are identified and retained and a positive working culture is fostered.

Here’s to a successful and happy 2018!

To discuss further please contact one of our BTO employment lawyers on 0141 221 8012.