As we highlighted in a previous article, back on the 23rd February 2021, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) formally announced that the deadline for the reporting year 2020/21, for the purposes of gender pay gap reporting enforcement action, would be moved to the 5th October 2021. The change was also later confirmed on the Government website.
What this means is that employers now have until midnight on the 4th October 2021 to report their gender pay gap data, with enforcement action against those who fail to report their data on time beginning on the 5th October 2021
Had there been no extension of the deadline, then the deadline for public sector employers to report their data would have been the 30th March 2021, with a snapshot date of the 31st March 2020. For private sector employers and voluntary organisations, the deadline would have been the 4th April 2021, with a snapshot date of the 5th April 2020. Despite this, as of the 11th April 2021, just 2664 employers (equating to 24.22%) have reported their gender pay gap data, of the approximately 11,000 employers who are required to report, despite the Government and others encouraging employers to report their data in advance of the original deadlines.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting: Background To Deadline Extension
The legal requirement for organisations with 250 or more employees to report their gender pay gap data was suspended last year, on the 24th March 2020, on account of the Covid-19 outbreak and the first national lockdown. Doubts as to whether or not gender pay gap reporting enforcement would be suspended again this year first surfaced on the 9th February 2021, when the Guardian reported that the issue was “under review“, with a representative from the government’s Equalities Hub stating that no decision had yet been made.
On the 23rd February 2021, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) formally announced that the reporting deadline for the purposes of gender pay gap reporting enforcement would be moved to the 5th October 2021.
The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, stated within the announcement at the time that: “We know businesses are still facing challenging times. Starting our legal process in October strikes the right balance between supporting businesses and enforcing these important regulations. Taking action to reduce the gender pay gap must continue. Reporting provides an opportunity for employers to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality, which will be more important than ever as the effects of the pandemic continue. Employers should still report their gender pay gap data for 2020/21 on time if they can and we encourage them to demonstrate the steps they are taking to reduce long-term pay gaps through detailed action plans.“
However, despite the fact that Baroness Kishwer Falkner encouraged employers to report their data by the original deadlines, the fact that just 2664 employers, less than a quarter, have reported as of the 11th April 2021 is very disappointing. On top of that, just 6180 employers thus far have reported their data for the previous year (i.e. the 2019/20 reporting year), following the suspension of enforcement action for it on the 24th March 2020.
Gender Pay Gap Data: Key Findings
On the limited data that has been reported so far, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), have found that the median gender pay gap was 12.8%. This is marginally down from the 12.9% recorded for the 2019/20 reporting year, and exactly the same as for the 2018/19 reporting year.
Poor Reporting: Reaction
Commenting upon the poor reporting of gender pay gap data, the senior reward and performance adviser at the CIPD, Charles Cotton, stated: "We are....concerned by the sharp drop in employers who have so far chosen not to report their figures this year. While this is not surprising given enforcement action has been delayed by six months, it does raise questions about the commitment of some employers to tackling their gender pay gap."
Mr Cotton added: "Reporting is an integral part of an organisation’s fairness strategy and, without it, employers lack a valuable tool to assess the fairness of how they recruit, manage, develop and reward their people. We would therefore urge those that have not yet filed their figures for 2020 to do so now, rather than waiting until October."
