Gender Pay Gap Reporting Requirements

In December 2020, the government published new guidance for employers on their gender pay gap reporting requirements. Although the 2019/2020 reporting has been suspended due to COVID, the 2020/2021 period is still effective, and qualifying employers will have to publish their information by 4^th April 2021. This article is intended as a brief summary of the requirements, and employers are advised to seek advice on the finer details and exact requirements.

From 2017, an employer with 250 or more headcount on a ‘snapshot’ date must compile and publish their report. This requires employers to annually publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap. There are two sets of regulations, one covering most public authorities and the other covering private.

What is a Gender Pay Gap?

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average (mean or median) earnings of men and women across a workforce. This is expressed as a percentage of an employee’s earnings. For example, ‘women earn 15% less than men per hour’. The gender pay gap can be calculated across a whole workforce, but also for subgroups. For example, based on age or work patterns like part-time work.

Who is required to publish the information?

An employer with 250 or more employees as at the snapshot date. You will need to include;

• Employees with a contract of employment. This includes employees on leave, statutory leave and furloughed employees.
• Self employed contractors (who provide the services themselves)
• partners that are salaried or are LLP members who are treated as employees for payroll purposes.

Note. Furloughed employees must be included in the gender pay gap calculation relating to bonus pay. But if the employer did not top-up furlough pay, the furloughed employees should not be included in the gender pay gap calculation relating to hourly pay. If the calculation has been affected or complicated by furloughed employees, employers should record that on the written submission.

Snapshot Date

Your gender pay gap calculations will be based on payroll data drawn from a specific date each year. This specific date is called the ‘snapshot date’. Your snapshot date and reporting deadline is determined by which regulations the employer comes under. For most public authority employers, the date will be 31^st March. For private organisations, it will be 5^th April.

What information do employers have to collect?

• Create a list of all employees employed by the employer on their snapshot date.
• All employees who were paid their usual full pay in their pay period that included your snapshot date, and all employees who were paid less than their usual full pay in their pay period that included your snapshot date for reasons other than leave.
• The gender of each relevant employee and full-pay relevant employee (men or women) It is important for employers to be sensitive to how an employee identifies in terms of their gender and the requirement to report should not result in employees being singled out.

What information must be produced and published?

You must calculate, report, and publish these genders pay gap figures:

1. percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
2. mean (average) gender pay gap using hourly pay.
3. median gender pay gap using hourly pay.
4. percentage of men and women receiving bonus pay.
5. mean (average) gender pay gap using bonus pay.
6. median gender pay gap using bonus pay.

How to report the findings?

You must use the government’s Gender Pay Gap Service to:

• report your gender pay gap figures.
• submit your written statement.
• Display the report in a prominent position on the public facing website.

Employers that fail to report on time, or report inaccurate data, will be in breach of the regulations and risk facing enforcement action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), leading to court orders and fines.

This guide is intended as a very brief summary and does not cover the finer details and requirements. Employers should obtain appropriate advice on obtaining, collecting, preparing, and submitting the information.

(Source www.gov.uk)

For further information on this matter or any employment issues call our advice-line team on 01455 852028.