Topics

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:
    18 August 2021
    Type:
    Editor's choice

    Take part in our pay forecasts survey

    XpertHR is carrying out a survey on pay forecasts and reward issues in 2021/2022, and invites you to take part.

  • Date:
    3 August 2021
    Type:
    Law reports

    Sex discrimination: Male directors dismissed to improve gender pay gap

    In Bayfield and another v Wunderman Thompson (UK) Ltd and others, an employment tribunal upheld the sex discrimination and unfair dismissal claims of two male directors who were dismissed after the advertising agency vowed to "obliterate" its reputation as a "Knightsbridge boys club".

  • Date:
    29 June 2021
    Type:
    Case studies

    How Plymouth Citybus closed its gender pay gap

    Plymouth Citybus speaks to XpertHR about how it successfully closed its gender pay gap through a combination of pay rises for its lowest-paid, predominantly female, job families and a restructuring of its senior management grades.

  • 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.

About this topic

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

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