UK Employment Hub 

The deadline passed at midnight last night for private businesses with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap report.

More than 10,000 companies have now published their report. Interestingly over 1,100 companies published their report on the day of the deadline, which is more than the total number of companies that reported in the first 326 days of the scheme. Some have argued that such late publishing was, in certain cases, a tactic to bury unflattering results in the last-minute flood of reporting.

From the data published so far we have learned that 78 per cent of companies pay men more than women, 14 per cent pay women more than men and 8 per cent have reported no gender pay gap at all.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, men are paid more than women in every single industry sector, with construction representing the largest gap, followed by finance and insurance.

It is not yet clear what level of punishment those that have failed to publish their pay gap results may face. Though, as we have previously reported on this blog, companies may be named and shamed on a public list on the government portal, and that those that continue to fail to report might ultimately face a summary conviction, be subject to an unlimited fine and be forced to publish the data under a court order.

The People, Reward and Mobility team are pleased to invite you to our annual update seminar. Designed to bring you up to date with the latest key developments affecting your workforce, we will review:

• the top employment cases for 2017 and 2018 and legislative changes, together with their implications for your business;
• key changes in pensions and other employee reward schemes and their effects on your business;
• the latest implications from Brexit on immigration matters, including what you can be doing now to be prepared; and
• diversity and inclusion, with a spotlight on what #MeToo means for your business and gender pay gap reporting, a year into the regime.

The seminar will be preceded by a breakfast buffet and an opportunity to network. We will hold a complimentary legal clinic after the event.

For further information (including dates), please visit our Events page:

Events

Events

2018 is a momentous year, in that it marks 100 years since British women were given the right to vote. Things have moved on a bit since 1918, and we can safely say that there have been many positive developments since then aimed at addressing the issue of gender inequality in the workplace.

Yet here we are, in this historic centenary year, reading daily accounts of high-profile cases of sex discrimination and harassment. Take, for example, the BBC “not doing equal pay” and the sexual harassment allegations arising from the notorious Presidents Club dinner. Inequality in the workplace remains a real issue, and against that backdrop one key question needs to be considered: are the UK’s sex discrimination laws still fit for purpose?

This was the question that the Fawcett Society (the UK’s leading charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights), together with a panel of legal and policy experts, was recently tasked with answering. Following a nine-month review, the Society has now made a number of recommendations on the following topics.

Read more here

To date most companies have been slow to release details of their gender pay gap with only 176 companies publishing their data.

With some 8,800 yet to reveal their figures, Theresa May has called for more companies to report on their gender pay gap to address the inequality in the workplace. She said that, “the gender pay gap isn’t going to close on its own” and that “we all need to be taking sustained action to make sure we address this.” Nevertheless, the only Government Department to have so far published their figures is the Department for Education which has a gap of 5.9%.

So far a handful of City businesses have published details of their gender pay gap and the results are as anticipated with reported median gaps of between 24% and 35.7%.

The Prime Minister’s announcement comes in the wake of a report, published by the World Economic Forum, which showed that the UK has dropped from a ranking of 9th in the world to 15th in respect of its gender gap. This ranking comes after a study from the Chartered Management Institute which showed a 27% pay gap among the UK’s 3.3 million managers, where men outnumber women three to one.

While the gender pay gap reporting obligations are an important step in the right direction, it seems that much work is still needed to reduce the gender pay imbalance in the UK.