The gender pay gap refers to the difference between women’s and men’s average weekly full-time earnings, and it is expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.
What is Gender pay reporting?
The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 is legislation which requires employers with 250 plus employees (at the ‘snapshot’ date, being 5 April 2017), to publish statutory calculations every 12 months’ to show if there is, and if so, what the pay gap between female and male employees is.
Employers will be required to publish their first gender pay gap reports in respect of the 2017 statistics by 4 April 2018.
Points to note for employers
• The regulations are intended to apply to private, voluntary-sector and public employers.
• Commencing in April 2017, employers with 250 plus employees must comply with the regulations each year.
• For the purposes of the regulations, the definition of an employee includes workers, as well as some self-employed people. Agency workers are included, however, they will be included in the headcount of the agency providing them.
• The report requires an employer to publish six calculations showing:
i.) average gender pay gap as a mean average,
ii.) average gender pay gap as a median average,
iii.) average bonus gender pay gap as a mean average,
iv.) average bonus gender pay gap as a median average,
v.) proportion of males receiving a bonus payment and proportion of females
receiving a bonus payment,
vi.) proportion of males and females when divided into four groups ordered from
lowest to highest pay (the employees should be divided into four sections, each comprising, so far as is possible, of an equal number of employees, to determine the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper pay bands).
• Employers have the option to provide a narrative with their calculations, to explain the reasons for the results and give details about actions that are being taken to reduce, or eliminate the gender pay gap.
• Gender pay reporting is a different requirement to that of carrying out an equal pay audit. An equal pay audit involves comparing the pay of men and women doing the same jobs, similar jobs, or work of equal value within an organisation. Equal pay means that men and women in the same employment, performing equal work must receive equal pay, as set out in the Equality Act 2010.
• The gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across an organisation or the labour market. It is expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.
What should be done with the calculations?
The results must be published on the employer’s website and a government website. They must be confirmed in a written statement by an appropriate person, such as a chief executive.
Whilst the regulations come in to force in April 2017, and currently will only affect employers with 250 plus staff, we would suggest that those business’ who are nearing that threshold should consider the advantages of preparing such a report. We would recommend that business’ take steps in preparation for when they do reach the 250-employee threshold.
Should you require any further detail in respect of the gender pay gap reporting procedures, and/or details of how this may affect your business, please do not hesitate to contact Peach Law on 0161 478 3800 or on hello@peachlaw.co.uk to speak with our Employment Law team.
