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Government announces consultation on gender pay gap reporting – consultation details, reactions and media coverage

Prime Minister David Cameron announced in The Times on 14 July 2015 that every large company in UK with 250 employees or more will have to publish the gap between its average male and female earnings.

The Government Equalities Office issued a consultation paper on 14 July on what more can be done to close the gender pay gap. The consultation closes 6 September 2015: ‘This consultation seeks views on the government’s manifesto commitment to require larger employers to publish gender pay information. These regulations will cover private and voluntary sector employers in England, Scotland and Wales with at least 250 employees.’

The Government Equalities Office commissioned research into the extent to which employers across Great Britain with 150 or more staff collect, report and publish data on pay by gender, and into the awareness and impact of the Think, Act, Report scheme.

Some reaction

Sally Brett, Senior Equality Policy Officer in the TUC's Equality and Employment Rights Department, writing in The Guardian, welcomes the move. But she warns that it does not mean employers will need to undertake equal pay audits – which is the ‘main equal pay law reform that trade unions have long campaigned for’.

Duncan Brown, Head of Consulting at the Institute for Employment Studies, explains the issue is more complex than the positive rhetoric suggests. Opinion on how to tackle Britain’s gender pay gap is divided, especially when it comes to public reporting.

Anoosh Chakelian, Deputy Web Editor at the New Statesman, reckons ‘Cameron’s announcement this week is the least he could do, and the longest he could have left the situation before intervening’.

Craig Gordon, Director of HRBullets, says that there are ‘some rather surprising questions posed in this consultation which could be taken as indicating a lack of enthusiasm on the part of government for imposing gender pay gap reporting on business’.

Media reporting