being aware of it, says the TUC. Publishing annual gender pay gap information and conducting regular pay audits would enable companies to identify any gender pay gaps, and take action to close them.
CIPP comment
The government published ‘Equal pay audits: a further consultation’ in May 2013 and the CIPP submitted a formal response on behalf of members. In brief the proposals in the consultation mean that an employment tribunal which finds that an employer has discriminated on grounds of sex in contractual or non-contractual pay will be obliged to order the employer to conduct a pay audit in cases where continuing discrimination is likely. A pay audit would not be ordered if one has been completed in the last three years, the employer has transparent pay practices or the employer can show a good reason why it would not be useful. The TUC is asking the government to go well beyond these proposals and wants them to legislate and make audits compulsory additions to annual company reports. Apparently just one in 100 companies are currently voluntarily publishing equal pay information.
The ‘Equal pay audits: a further consultation’ closed in July 2013 and we are still waiting for the government’s response.
Read the full press release from the TUC.
Enforcement of Employment Tribunal Awards
7 November 2013
The government is looking at measures to clamp down on non-payment of tribunal pay outs as research shows that over half of those awarded don’t actually receive the money from the employer.
HR Bullets has produced the following summary:
In light of BIS-sponsored research showing that over half of those awarded a tribunal pay out don’t actually receive what they’ve been awarded, the government has said it will look at measures to clamp down on non-payment.
Among the measures the Employment Relations Minister Jo Swinson is considering are:
making changes to the employment tribunal rules to give judges the power to demand deposits from businesses who they think might not pay up fixed penalty notices for late payment naming and shaming employers who fail to pay out (presumably in a similar vein to that now going to be used for non-payers of the national minimum wage), and making sure that people are aware how they can take enforcement action if they are not paid what they are due. The government is also looking at what action it can take to make sure people get their tribunal award when a company has stopped trading. If a company is insolvent, the Redundancy Payments Service can already pay certain elements of an employment tribunal award. Along with raising awareness of this service, ministers are also looking to make sure that rogue directors are not able to continue to evade their responsibilities.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 87 of 519
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