Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionEqual pay

Government moves closer to requiring firms to publish gender pay gaps

by Louisa Peacock 9 Jan 2009
by Louisa Peacock 9 Jan 2009

The government is creeping one small step closer to making private sector firms publish their gender pay gaps after women’s minister Harriet Harman refused to rule out the concept last month.

In an exclusive interview with our sister title Personnel Today, Harman said although a new government scheme aimed at enticing firms to work out and publish their pay gap online was voluntary, other laws could allow the government to force employers to measure pay differentials. “We’re asking people to post their pay gap voluntarily, but we have got a backstop in the Companies Act, which means we can make people do it,” she said.

However a Government Equalities Office spokeswoman said such powers would only be used years down the line if a company repeatedly failed to make improvements. So what other steps is the government taking to encourage employers across the private and public sectors to be more open about inequality in the workplace?

Legislative measures

First, the Equality Bill, due to come into effect next year. Probably the most controversial part is the proposal to allow employers to hire candidates specifically from minority groups provided they are equally qualified to individuals from over-represented groups.

The bill will also ban ‘gagging clauses’ so that staff can compare wages and challenge employers who unlawfully pay them less. Nearly a quarter of employers ban their staff from talking about their wages, according to the Equalities Office. Next, the separate public sector duties on gender, disability and race will be brought under one roof, and public authorities will report on inequalities such as gender pay, disability employment and ethnic minority employment.

The final change will allow employment tribunals to make recommendations to benefit everybody in the workforce, not just for the individual that brings the case.

Non-legislative changes

The government is considering how state procurement can be used to deliver transparency and change. The public sector spends about £160bn every year on British businesses, so while firms may not be forced to promote diversity by law (they don’t have the same ‘duty’ as public sector organisations), they could lose out on government contracts if they fail to do so. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will conduct inquiries in sectors where there is “clear inequality”. Financial services is under the spotlight as its gender pay gap average is 41.5% compared with the national figure of 12.6%.

Businesses looking to attract the best talent will also feel pressure to sign up to a new equality kite-mark. To become accredited, businesses will need to report on the gender pay gap in their organisation and their employment of disabled and ethnic minority staff. Finally, the government will work with the CBI and unions to collect evidence on the effectiveness of equal pay job evaluation audits. Previous ministers have said there is no evidence to suggest that forcing firms to conduct equal pay audits will work to improve inequality.

Avatar
Louisa Peacock

previous post
Hutton insists keeping employees engaged will boost bottom line
next post
15,000 jobs under threat at Microsoft as firm refuses to deny blog rumour

You may also like

One in five workplaces lack LGBT support policies

30 Jun 2022

Christian doctor loses transgender pronoun case, but beliefs...

29 Jun 2022

Attracting diverse young talent to the ‘secret’ world...

28 Jun 2022

Gender pay gap ‘won’t close until 2151’

27 Jun 2022

Don’t be gloomy over social mobility in the...

24 Jun 2022

Bias stopping STEM professionals returning after career break

23 Jun 2022

Black, Asian and LGBTQ+ workers ‘overlooked’ at work

20 Jun 2022

UK in urgent need of female tradespeople finds...

17 Jun 2022

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Businesses will fail if...

16 Jun 2022

Construction blighted by skills shortage as sector steps...

16 Jun 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+