Employers with 250 or more staff have until 5 October 2021 to publish their annual figures relating to their gender pay gap. Any employers who fail to report their gender pay gap by this date may be subject to enforcement action.
What needs to be published?
Private sector employers are required to publish their gender pay gap information for the 2020/2021 reporting year using a snapshot date of 5 April 2020. This information must include figures for both the mean and median gender pay gaps for hourly rates of pay and bonuses, the proportion of men and women receiving bonuses, and the number of men and women within each salary quartile.
What do employers need to do now?
If employers have not already done so, they should consider these obligations as soon as possible, appoint someone to be responsible for collating the data, and consider any narrative that should be published alongside it.
How has COVID impacted gender pay gap data?
Due to the narrow window for analysis being a single day, 5 April 2020, and the exceptional circumstances that existed at that time as a result of the pandemic, this year’s gender pay gap reporting may be misleading and fail accurately to reflect an employer’s gender pay gap. In view of this, to give proper meaning to their reporting, employers may want to address any exceptional circumstances in a voluntary narrative accompanying their report. You can read our analysis on the impact of COVID on gender pay gap reporting here.
Sarah Taylor
Chantelle De Filippis