Every year, the Fawcett Society, a charity that campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights, mark a day in November as Equal Pay Day (This year it is 10 November 2017). Their website states;
“Despite the Equal Pay Act in 1970, women still earn less than men in Britain today. The current gender pay gap means women effectively stop earning relative to men on a day in November. This day is referred to as Equal Pay Day and varies according to the actual pay gap each year.”
Its aim is to bring attention to the ongoing significant gap between the average earnings of women and men. Recent figures published by the Office for National Statistics suggest that the gap has remained static for the last three years.
Under new regulations, employers with more than 250 employees are required to publish a range of statistics about their gender pay gaps before 4 April 2018. The Government has set up a website for this information to be submitted here.
One of the controversies about the new legislation is that there is no financial penalty if employers fail to publish. The Government considered a possible fine, but decided against this, preferring instead to rely on the potential impact of reputational harm as the incentive to comply.
All employers that have submitted statistics can be seen on the Government website. There are also links to the narrative statements that these employers have published on their own websites explaining their figures.
For employers who are in the process of collating information, we recommend having a look at the gender pay gap data here. These examples can help with how information should be presented.
At Hugh James, we have published a detailed guide to your obligations under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. We have also suggested approaches to writing the narrative statement.
