Gender pay gap reporting – what’s next?

By law, employers must now have published their gender pay gap data. But what’s next?

The priority for employers with 250 or more relevant employees will be to check compliance with this year’s obligation – have you identified the relevant pay data, analysed it and uploaded it to your website and the government website?

Gender pay reporting is not a ‘one off’. All employers who have 250+ employees on the ‘snapshot’ date (5 April) each year must report on that data. Therefore, employers will need to report on their gender pay gap again on 4 April 2019. The data must remain on the company website for three years from the date of publication, enabling an easy comparison of one year’s figures against another.

Many employers are including a narrative with their gender pay data, which allows them to explain any pay gap and identify the steps they are taking to eliminate the gap.

With the issues remaining in the headlines, an employer should start implementing any steps they identified in their narrative to reduce their pay gap where appropriate. Internal company taskforces are a useful forum for both raising and dealing with the issues.

Employers should be aware that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have the power to take enforcement action against any employer who does not or has not complied with their reporting duties.

The key message for employers is twofold: on-going annual compliance and using the rules as a driver for positive change; keeping diversity initiatives on the agenda, tracking success and building on progress.