Around three quarters of respondents (80% of women and 69% of men) would be willing to take part in actions and activities to help their employers tackle the gender pay gap.
However, a quarter of respondents didn’t feel at all able to influence their employer’s response to tackling the gender pay gap, raising further concerns about a lack of action leading to staff disengagement.
The EHRC recommend that employers produce action plans with specific targets and deadlines alongside their pay gap figures, which clearly set out what their data has told them and what action they will be taking to close their pay gaps.
Advice and guidance for employers to help them tackle gender inequality at work is available in EHRC’s strategy to reduce pay gaps in Britain and through its Working Forward campaign to support pregnant women and new parents. This includes advice on offering flexibility in all jobs, undertaking equal pay audits, encouraging men and women to share childcare responsibilities, and reducing prejudice and bias in recruitment, promotion and pay decisions.
The Government Equalities Office has also published a ‘What Works’ guidance for companies to help them improve the recruitment and progression of women and close their gender pay gap.
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Government publish response to gender pay gap reporting recommendations 21 January 2018
The government response to gender pay gap recommendations made by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has been published.
In August 2018, the department of Business, Energy, Innovation and Skills (BEIS) Committee published its thirteenth report on closing the gender pay gap, recommending that the qualifying threshold remains at 250 employees next year (2019), but the following year be reduced to organisations of 50 employees or more. The Treasury Committee’s response to the thirteenth report in September 2018 stated that it is important to recognise that the regulations are still in their infancy, with organisations having only just completed the first year of reporting. The response also said that the legislation itself is ground breaking, with no other country asking for this level of transparency, but they will review it in five years indicating that it will not be extending reporting requirements before the review takes place.
The Government has now published its response to the thirteenth report and has responded specifically to the recommendations put forward by the BEIS committee.
“…Should there be sufficient appetite for lowering the threshold in future reporting years, government will consult with potentially affected stakeholders on the feasibility, and advantages and disadvantages of extending the regulations…”
Some of the recommendations made by the BEIS committee were identified by CIPP members during consultation, particularly around the method of certain calculations. A summary of the relevant recommendations and responses are as follows: Recommendation That the Government works with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, business groups and other stakeholders to clarify outstanding areas of ambiguity and to publish revised guidance accordingly. Response The Government Equalities Office (GEO) works closely with businesses and employer membership bodies to ensure that the views and experiences of employers are understood. Guidance is regularly assessed to make sure it remains fit for purpose. Government will continue to gather stakeholder feedback and update the guidance, should this be appropriate.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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