By Jill Evans, Law Content Analyst, CIPD
Sex inequality at work is barely out of the headlines these days. But usually what we’re reading about is either fresh allegations of sexual harassment in one sector or another, or continuing fallout from cases already in the public domain.
While we’re gasping at the latest horror stories of inappropriate behaviour, it would be easy to forget about inequalities in pay levels between the sexes at work.
By the end of this month (in fact Good Friday, 30 March) ‘specified’ public authorities employing 250 or more employees, including the NHS, state schools, government departments and the armed forces, must have published a gender pay gap report, based on data captured one year earlier on 31 March 2017. By 4 April 2018, private and voluntary sector organisations with the same number of employees or more, should have followed suit.
By 1 March, just over 1,400 organisations had reported their gender pay gap on the government’s website, out of an estimated 9,000. The delay is understandable. Calculating the pay figures required by the regulations might be relatively straightforward. Explaining why a gender pay gap exists is much more difficult, but both the government and the CIPD are urging employers to include a narrative with their report, explaining why women may be receiving lower rates of pay and bonuses than male employees.
The narrative can be used to explain the context for the difference in pay levels (perhaps a preponderance of men in particular roles, for example) but, most importantly, it allows an organisation to say how it is addressing the issue of gender imbalance, resulting in pay differences, in its workforce.
There may be penalties in the future for organisations that fail to publish a gender pay gap report, so employers may not be able to avoid it, even if the figures reveal an uncomfortable story. And whatever measures follow from the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recent consultation on enforcing the gender pay gap regulations, pay inequality is already rising up the agenda.
High street retailers Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, are all currently facing equal pay claims, with possible costs reckoned in £billions. A few years ago Birmingham City Council had a £1billion bill to pay when its female staff, including cooks and home care workers, were able to show their work was of equal value to higher paid jobs done by men.
Gender pay gap reporting does not automatically open up equal pay claims. But greater transparency on pay is bound to lead to more questions being asked. Organisations required to report, that haven’t done so already, should get going on researching and writing their narrative statement without delay. They may find watching this member-only webcast on gender pay gap narrative reporting is an hour well-spent. And there’s still time to register for the CIPD’s gender pay gap conference taking place on 8 March in London.
