We wish you all a Happy New Year. We have had a super busy 2017 so have not blogged for some time but thought you might want to know about the upcoming gender pay reporting regulations.
You may have seen in the media the gender pay story around ITV This Morning’s presenter Holly Willoughby where Holly was reported to be earning £200,000 less than her co-star Philip Schofield. Holly’s wages were later boosted by the BBC to match Phil’s £600,000.
If you are a UK business you may have already had your letter from the Government Equalities Office, this is what it all means.
What do I need to do?
Businesses in the UK with a headcount of 250 people or more must disclose pay data on female and male workers each year (yes, this is an annual requirement which is not going away anytime soon…unless of course your headcount drops below 250).
The regulations are set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
You have until 4 April 2018 to publish the gender information which will be publicly available (note there are separate time limits and regulations for public sector workers). We suggest you do not leave this until the last minute as the data gathering itself may take some time.
The data
There are 6 calculations to be completed:
- Mean gender pay gap;
- Median gender pay gap;
- Mean bonus gender pay gap;
- Median bonus gender pay gap;
- Proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment; and
- The proportion of males and females in each quartile band.
“Employees” for these reporting regulations includes workers and the self-employed. Agency workers are counted by the agencies providing them.
The data shows the difference between earnings and bonuses of men and women. The data may be expressed as a percentage (i.e. on average men earn 5% more in bonuses than women).
Businesses may choose to also publish an explanation around the challenges and/or successes of the results or, details about steps being taken to close any gaps.
Don’t forget that the information needs to be signed by a director or chief executive to confirm its accuracy.
Useful guides here: https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5768
Data required for gender pay reporting is different to equal pay under the Equality Act 2010 which deals with the differences of workers in comparable roles (like the Holly and Phil situation) whereas these gender pay regulations deal with the difference in men and women’s pay across the workforce.
How do I publish the data?
The results must be accessible on your business website and must be reported on the government website below:
https://www.gov.uk/report-gender-pay-gap-data
The registration information is in the letter you have been sent, if not, register online and the codes will follow by post.
If you get stuck, please reach out for our help on 01276 536 410.
