New rules requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish information on their gender pay gap hold the key to banishing discrepancies in salaries between male and female workers, according to one of Cheltenham’s leading employment law specialists. Article from Nick Rowe, partner and head of the employment team at law firm Lodders.
Nick Rowe, partner and head of the employment team at law firm Lodders, says that the new rules that come into effect from the 6th April will place a legal requirement on companies to publish information on their gender pay gap, and believes that this long-awaited transparency may be the first positive step towards enabling local employers to honestly and effectively analyse any salary differences in their organisation: Reducing the gender pay gap is critical to creating a fair and balanced work place for all,” he says.
“Recent research into the gender pay gap has served to reveal the full extent of the problem amongst UK businesses. For example, a 2016 study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found a consistent widening of the pay gap over the 12 years after a first child was born, which leaves women earning 33 percent less than men. According to the study, a lifetime pay gap affects 18 percent of all women in the workplace. And whilst another report from the Resolution Foundation shows a positive trend of the pay gap narrowing, it also finds a significant lifetime earnings penalty for women and notably a sharp increase in the gap at around age thirty, when people begin to start families.It is hoped that the requirement for businesses with over 250 employees – that represents a large proportion of the UK’s businesses – will have a positive effect, enlighten employers, and alert them to any salary discrepancy amongst their male and female employees. It just might be the additional incentive that organisations require for them to make concerted efforts to arrive at a more equitable position.”
