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Gender pay gap

Fiona Cuming Editor's message: Equal pay legislation has been around since the 1970s, giving men and women the right to claim equal pay where they perform "equal work". The gender pay gap, however, covers the difference in the average earnings of men and women, regardless of their role or seniority. There are a variety of factors behind it, including the impact on women's career progression of taking time out of the labour market to have children, and career choices, with typical “male” subjects such as IT and science often leading to higher-paid roles.

To address the issue, the Government introduced a requirement for all large organisations to publish their gender pay gap information annually. This involves producing six key metrics, including the difference in the mean and median pay and bonus pay of men and women, along with the proportion of men and women in each of four quartile pay bands.

However, the Government has suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This means that relevant public- and private-sector employers are not obliged to report their 2019 gender pay gap information in 2020. However, the Government said that it will continue to provide support to employers that do want to publish their 2019 gender pay gap information this year.

Fiona Cuming, employment law editor

New and updated

  • Date:
    9 March 2021
    Type:
    Commentary and analysis

    April 2021 employment law changes: Five things for HR to do

    While continuing to deal with the impact of coronavirus, HR professionals must ensure that their organisation complies with the usual raft of April employment law changes. In April 2021, these changes include the extension of IR35 reforms to the private sector, a tweak to the national minimum wage age bands, and increases to statutory redundancy pay and statutory maternity pay.

  • Type:
    How to

    How to measure and report a gender pay gap

    Updated to reflect that the enforcement of gender pay gap reporting for 2020/2021 will be delayed for six months.

  • Type:
    Employment law manual

    Gender pay gap reporting

    Updated to include information on the six-month extension on gender pay gap enforcement action, announced by the EHRC on 23 February 2021.

  • Type:
    Policies and documents

    Gender pay gap report

    Updated to reflect that the enforcement of gender pay gap reporting for 2020/2021 will be delayed for six months.

  • Date:
    10 November 2020
    Type:
    Commentary and analysis

    Gender pay gap reporting: The implications of furlough

    Furlough has the potential to skew an organisation's gender pay gap significantly. Madeleine Mould, associate in the employment team at law firm Blake Morgan LLP, looks at what it means for organisations preparing their data ahead of the next reporting deadline.

  • Type:
    Indicators

    ONS gender pay gap data: ASHE 2020

    We provide a breakdown of pay benchmarking data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2020, providing headline figures on the gender pay gap.

  • Date:
    14 May 2020
    Type:
    Commentary and analysis

    Gender pay gap reporting and the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19)

    With penalties for failing to publish gender pay gap reports for 2019/20 suspended due to the pandemic, and a lack of clarity about reporting dates for 2020/21, Jo Faragher examines the data and fears that equality may fall off the agenda for some companies.

  • Date:
    19 March 2020
    Type:
    Commentary and analysis

    April 2020 employment law changes: Eight tasks for HR

    Each April, HR professionals must ensure that their organisation complies with the latest round of amended employment laws and deadlines. As well as dealing with the ongoing impact of coronavirus (Covid-19), important issues for HR in April 2020 include changes to written statements of terms and conditions, the introduction of parental bereavement leave and pay, and changes to the law on calculating holiday pay for workers with irregular hours.

  • Date:
    26 July 2019
    Type:
    Commentary and analysis

    Never mind the gender pay gap: here's the gender pensions gap

    There have been exhaustive discussions on the gender pay gap, but what about the huge chasm between women's pension wealth and what men are able to accumulate for retirement? Nikki Thompson explains.

  • Type:
    How to

    How to use positive action when taking steps to close the gender pay gap

    Practical guidance on using positive action when taking steps to close the gender pay gap, including the difference between positive action and positive discrimination, measures that could amount to positive action and how to develop an action plan.

About this topic

HR and legal information and guidance relating to the gender pay gap.

Gender pay gap: key resources

Gender pay gap reporting service

  • The XpertHR Gender pay gap reporting service provides a bespoke report to participating organisations setting out the six key metrics they must publish to comply with the gender pay gap Regulations.

Register now

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