New consultation on gender pay gap

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has today launched a consultation on how private and voluntary sector employers* with at least 250 staff can measure and report on their gender pay gap.

Women working full-time currently earn on average over 17 percent less per hour than men, with the gap failing to improve in the past three years. The difference in some sectors such as finance are much wider and the majority of organisations are not aware of their own gender pay gap.

The Commission believes that developing ways for employers to measure and report on their gender pay gap will be a crucial step towards reducing pay inequity by providing greater transparency. The Commission is working closely with the business sector, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and with the Trades Union Congress (TUC), to develop a consistent way to measure the gender pay difference in organisations.

The aim is to empower private and voluntary sector employers to report on a voluntary basis, but the Equality Bill does contain a reserve power which, if a future Secretary of State chose to use, could lead to mandatory reporting if progress has not been made on a voluntary basis by 2013. The Commission has outlined a range of possible approaches and looks forward to receiving input from a wide range or employers.

Andrea Murray, the Acting Group Director of Strategy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “There is demand from the public for organisations to build their reputation on transparency and sharing information. The way they reward their staff should be fair, and seen to be fair.”

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19 August 2009