Equality Bill amended to force private sector employers to disclose gender pay differences

The draft Equality Bill is being amended to force private sector employers to publish gender pay statistics, according to reports this morning.

The bill had only required public sector employers and those private firms bidding for state work to publish statistics on gender pay differences.

But the Guardian claims that the Equalities Office is drawing up a clause that would require firms to publish the number of men and women it has in each pay band.

Employers reacted angrily to the news.

Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, told the Guardian: “Forcing companies to reveal meaningless statistics will not tackle the real causes of gender inequality. The key cause of the pay gap is occupational segregation. Better careers advice for girls, better advice on parental rights, and more high-quality childcare will all help address this issue."

The Equality Bill was named in Queen’s Speech and is expected to be passed through Parliament soon.