Around half of organisations are yet to publish their 2021/22 gender pay gap, as the deadlines for the current reporting year looms.
Public sector organisations have until 11:59pm on 30 March to publish their gender pay gap, while private sector organisations must report their data by 4 April.
At the time of publication (11.50am), just 5,354 organisations had published their 2021/22 gender pay gap data, compared to 10,538 who reported for the previous year.
In the public sector, 1,329 organisations had reported their gender pay gap out of an anticipated total of approximately 1,700, meaning one in five had still to submit their data to the government.
All employers with 250 or more staff are legally required to publish the difference in male and female average pay on the government’s gender pay gap service and on their websites.
After relaxing its enforcement of the requirement in light of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said it will consider restarting its action against organisations that have not submitted their pay data from 5 April.
Analysis by HR and payroll software provider Ciphr of the 2021 gender pay gap data published so far, found that more than three-quarters of employers paid their male employees more than their female employees, on average. Just one in seven paid women more at the 2021 snapshot date (31 March for public sector organisations and 5 April for private sector firms) and one in 10 reported having no pay gap.
2021/22 gender pay gap deadline
Which employers are covered by the gender pay gap reporting duty?
Earlier this month, analysis by consultancy Spktral found widespread errors in the 2021 gender pay gap data that had been reported on the government’s website.
“To avoid this, senior leaders and non-exec directors should ask that the process is checked – not just for the current year, but historically to account for the three years’ worth of published reports that every organisation is required to have on their websites,” Spktral advised.
Ciphr has warned that rising inflation may widen the UK’s overall gender pay gap, which in 2021 was 15.4% according to the Office for National Statistics, as women were less likely than men to be awarded a 2022 salary increase that was in line or above the rate of inflation.
More than a fifth (22%) of men polled by Ciphr said they had been awarded a pay rise at or above inflation, while just 14% of women said the same.
Of the women who had received a pay rise to date, two-fifths (40%) said it was below inflation. Just 32% of the men who received a pay rise said the same.
The survey involved 1,001 employees and took place in February.
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