Just Over half of employers have published gender pay gap data for the year 2018/19 thus far.
Almost Half Of Employers Have Not Published Gender Pay Gap Data
As at the 31st May 2020, just 5555 of the roughly 11,000 employers who were originally required to have published gender pay gap data, have done so.
The gender pay gap data deadline for public sector employers was originally the 30th March 2020, and for private sector employers, charities, and voluntary organisations, it was the 4th April 2020. However, on the 24th March 2020, the Government suspended enforcement on reporting of the data for the year due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. As at the 4th May 2020, just 5399 employers had published gender pay gap data, up from 5081 on the 8th April 2020. Hence, only 156 employers have bothered to report their gender pay gap data in the approximately 1 month that has elapsed since the 4th May 2020. At the time that the gender pay gap reporting data requirement was suspended for the year on the 24.3.20, approximately 3,000 employers had already published gender pay gap data. Accordingly, since been made aware that there was no longer a legal requirement to publish the data, just 2555 employers have voluntarily published their data anyway regardless.
Key Findings From The Published Gender Pay Gap Data
Despite only half of employers having lodged their data, key findings have been extracted from the published gender pay gap data. For example, analyses by the Financial Times found that the median gender pay gap had increased to 12.9% in favour men during 2018/19, compared with 11.9% in 2017/18. The gap was 11.8% in 2016/17. Analyses by Business in the Community found that the gender pay gap had increased to 12.8% in favour of men, compared with 11.9% the year before. Hence, only a slight difference to the findings of the Financial Times.
Reaction
With only just over half of employers having published gender pay gap data, the decision to suspend enforcement on reporting has been criticised by some. Rachael Revesz, writing in the HuffPost, for instance, argues: "Dropping the obligation to report...reinforces the view that gender equality is last on a long list of priorities....Against that backdrop, the biggest effort the UK has made in recent years to reinforce the importance of equal pay — gender pay gap reporting — has now been thrown out the window."
Marking the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act on the 29th May 2020, a report by Business in the Community argues that the fact that so few employers have published their data voluntarily once the legal obligation to report was removed, is "a worrying sign for things to come for gender equality in the workplace....As businesses grapple with the ongoing crisis, the risk to gender equality is stark. Women are more likely to work in the industries worst hit by lockdown, more likely picking up the extra childcare needed as schools and nurseries remain closed and more likely to work in lower paid, less secure work than men" Charlotte Woodworth, the gender equality campaign director at Business in the Community, adds that "the choices companies make now will play a vital role in deciding whether we lock in the progress made in recent years, or see women’s standing at work unravel. This crisis could see women’s equality pushed back a generation."
One organisation which has not published gender pay gap data for 2018/19 is Morrisons. A representative for them told the Financial Times that it had not published its data so as to "ensure resources were allocated in feeding the nation" and that they are committed to "supporting women to develop, progress and grow within Morrisons.”
