The Equality Act contains a number of provisions designed to address the stubborn gender pay gap - some 40 years after the Equal Pay Act was introduced. Daniel Thomas reports.
Perhaps the most controversial provision in the Equality Act surrounds
More...07 July 2010 11:04 The coalition government has pledged to implement the Equality Act in October, but has refused to outline its intentions for gender pay gap reporting.
Home secretary Theresa May said the Equality Act, passed in April, will make it easier for firms
More...05 July 2010 08:34 The cost to taxpayers of equal pay claims by Walsall Council staff could hit £50m, it has emerged.
The authority is planning to borrow £48.4m to cover the extra money it will have to shell out in salaries of thousands of workers, as part of the sing
More...01 July 2010 09:43 Two Skills Development Scotland managers have won an equal pay tribunal after objecting to a male colleague earning £10,000 more for the same work.
Mairi Buchanan and Pat Holland learned of the discrepancy in 2002 and decided to take action in 2008
More...15 June 2010 08:58 Union leaders have called on Birmingham City Council to "pay women workers what they are owed" and drop an appeal against the recent equal pay judgment the authority lost.
In April, Birmingham Employment Tribunal ruled that the council was wrong to
More...09 June 2010 12:44 A swift, one-size-fits-all approach to addressing the gender pay gap would be counterproductive, employers' groups have warned. The warning follows last week's call from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for organisations to do more to
More...01 June 2010 15:51 Industry bodies and equality groups have given a lukewarm welcome to the coalition government's commitment to workplace equality in its policy agreement. The equality section of the document includes measures to promote equal pay, extend the right
More...20 May 2010 15:41 A gulf has emerged between the political parties on the issue of women’s equality, a new poll shows. Equality campaign group The Fawcett Society asked approximately 400 parliamentary candidates whether they would support action on women’s inequality
More...04 May 2010 12:16 Thousands of female Birmingham City Council staff could receive a share of up to £600m in compensation after winning an equal pay employment tribunal case.
Up to 5,000 female workers, including cleaners, care assistants and cooks, brought the case a
More...28 April 2010 08:28 Thousands of temporary workers in the food industry will now receive pay equal to that of permanent staff under a deal agreed between Asda and Unite union. Asda, the UK's second-largest supermarket, has added pressure on other food retailers to foll
More...04 March 2010 08:51 Sheffield City Council will have to compensate women carers who have been paid up to 38% less than their male counterparts for decades, after a court ruling. The Court of Appeal has ruled that a bonus scheme introduced in the 1960s gave the council's
More...11 February 2010 08:41 The number of "breadwinning wives" is on the rise, with 2.7 million women now earning more than their husbands or boyfriends.
New analysis of official figures shows that there has been a fivefold increase in the number of women who earn more than th
More...01 February 2010 10:41 Ethnic minorities are less likely to be in paid work than white British men and women, a government-commissioned report has found.
The study by the National Equality Panel – set up by the government in 2008 – also revealed men were still p
More...27 January 2010 09:35 A two-year amnesty from investigation for firms that publish their gender pay gaps will do little to spur employers into carrying out audits voluntarily, HR professionals have warned.
Employers have told Personnel Today they are unlikely to publis
More...21 January 2010 17:58 Hundreds of Dudley Council workers have finally begun receiving equal pay deals – after a 13-year wait.
Cleaners, carers, caterers and lollipop ladies are among the 400 female workers who could soon have their back pay in the next few weeks, i
More...21 January 2010 09:17 Employers that voluntarily report their gender pay gaps will receive up to two years immunity from investigation, the equality watchdog has announced today. This immunity will not extend to anti-discrimination cases, but will mean that companies who
More...19 January 2010 15:45 A council electrician has managed to earn £124,000 a year in pay and bonuses.
The electrician at Birmingham City Council claimed more than £90,000 in overtime, backdated pay and standby allowances in 2006-07.
The details of the electrician's pay
More...11 January 2010 08:48 North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has spent millions of pounds on a legal battle over equal pay, prompting accusations of wasting taxpayers' money.
The trust, which runs Cumbria's two main hospitals, has spent £3.3m on an eight-year dis
More...05 January 2010 09:31 Northern Irish civil servants belonging to the Nipsa union have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an equal pay deal.
Thirteen thousand civil servants, mainly women, accepted the deal following complaints that they were paid less than others on the
More...22 December 2009 09:35 The threat of legal action by the European Commission could increase pressure on the government to get the Equality Bill onto the statute book early next year.
The commission has accused the UK of failing to implement aspects of European Directives
More...15 December 2009 10:33