Effective action plans to improve gender pay parity

Employers with 250 or more relevant employees only have a small window remaining to publish details of their organisation’s gender pay gap.

Gender pay gap figures compare the average pay of an organisation’s female employees with the average pay of their male employees. Women, compared to men, are less likely to work full-time and more likely to take time out of their careers for childcare. This can negatively impact their career progression and their pay. As a result, gender pay gaps persist and are a key indicator of women’s labour market inequality. 

If applied properly, pay gap reporting is a valuable tool for organisations aiming to improve their diversity and inclusion performance, and make a social impact. Long-term benefits include:

• the report data help employers understand their workforce composition better and explore where and why disparities exist;
• a well-written pay gap report can help employers to implement an ESG (environment, social, governance) centred action plan and lead to greater, positive organisational change; and
• in a challenging recruitment environment, achieving gender pay parity quicker than your competitors can give you a market-place edge.

What are the timescales?

For private and voluntary sector organisations, a snapshot of employees’ pay must be taken on 5 April each year. Employers must publish pay gap reports on their website and upload them to the government’s website no later than 4 April the following year.

For public sector bodies, the snapshot must be taken on 31 March each year and reports must be published and uploaded by 30 March the next year.

Five late reporting risks

Last-minute or late reporting can cause a range of issues including the following.

1. A greater risk of mistakes when you are rushing your calculations.
2. Reduced time for data analysis means less time to reflect on previously implemented measures and to create a meaningful action plan for future improvements. 
3. Failure to report and publish your gender pay gap information within one year of your snapshot date is unlawful. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has the power to enforce any compliance failure which could lead to ‘naming and shaming’ and therefore reputational damage.
4. The government portal applies a publicly visible ‘late’ badge to registered employers who fail to report and publish their information for any year they must do so.
5. Prospective new recruits are increasingly attracted to employers whose ESG values match their own. With recruitment being a challenge in many sectors, not having an action plan may leave an organisation behind when attracting the right talent.

How we can help?

We can help employers fulfil this important regulatory requirement and support those who wish to take meaningful action to address their gender pay gaps more proactively. 

Our services

Pay gap calculations and narrative

We will work with you to collate your data on the required snapshot date to:

• provide the calculations to support your results and to show the accuracy of data;
• support the drafting of the voluntary narrative; and
• ensure you receive an annual reminder.

Pay gap consultancy

We can review and analyse your results, along with current action plans to help your organisation understand where the challenges, obstacles and invisible barriers might lie.

If you need support or guidance to meet your pay gap reporting obligations and truly effect change in your organisation, please contact Kerri Constable.