Gender pay gap reporting to become mandatory by 2017

The government has said that tackling the gender pay gap is an absolute priority, and last year a consultation, Closing the Gender Pay Gap, was launched.  The government has now published the draft The Equality Act (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2016, which set out the framework for the new gender pay reporting requirements. 

Key dates: The new rules are expected to come into force in October 2016, with the first reports to be published in April 2017.

Which employers are affected? Those with over 250 employees 

What to publish? Relevant employers must publish:

• Overall mean and median pay gaps gleaned from the whole workforce.
• The difference between the mean bonus payments paid to men and women (and the % of male and female employees that received a bonus).
• How many men and women appear in each quartile of pay in the workforce. 

Where to publish? The full pay report information must be published on the employer’s website in April every year, and left there for at least three years. The employer must also upload the information to a government-sponsored website. 

Penalties? The government intends for employers who do not comply to be ‘named and shamed’. It will review whether civil or criminal penalties for non-compliance should be introduced in due course.

The draft Regulations are open for consultation until 11 March 2016.