Employers will be required to publish details of their gender pay gap when the government’s draft regulations on gender pay gap reporting will, if approved by parliament, come into force on 6 April 2017.
The regulations will apply to employers with 250 or more employees and will require those employers to publish data which shows the extent of the gender pay gap in the organisation including:
- The difference in mean pay between male and female employees
- The difference in median pay between male and female employees
- The difference in mean bonus between male and female employees who receive bonuses
- The proportion of male and female employees who receive bonuses
- The number of men and women in each quartile of the employer’s pay distribution
The reference period used to calculate the data will be the employees’ pay period within which 5 April falls. The first gender pay gap information publication date is no later than 4 April 2018 and the information must then be published annually thereafter.
This information must be accessible to employees and to the public on the employer’s website and remain there for three years. It must also be sent to the government. There are no proposed civil or criminal sanctions for non-compliance at present but the government will monitor this and may name and shame those failing to comply. There may also be other parties, such as trade unions, the media, equality groups and potential job applicants who may publicise or take action as a result of an employer’s failure to comply with the regulations. It is also possible that enforcement action may be taken by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Further guidance can be found on the ACAS website at www.acas.org.uk
