Early analysis of the data for the 2022/23 reporting year has found that there has been a slight narrowing in the gender pay gap compared to last year, with men still earning more than women.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
The deadline for public sector employers to report their gender pay gap data was the 30th March 2023, with a snapshot date of the 31st March 2022. For private sector employers and voluntary organisations, the deadline was the 4th April 2023, with a snapshot date of the 5th April 2022.
2021/22 Data
Analysis of the 2021/22 gender pay gap data by the BBC found that compared to the 2020/21 reporting year, the median gender pay gap in terms of hourly pay had narrowed from 10% to 9.7%. The mean pay gap in terms of hourly pay, moreover, fell from 13.9% to 13.6% according to Bloomberg.
SME Definition
Ahead of the 2022/23 reporting year deadlines, it was announced that with effect from the 3rd October 2022, the definition of SME’s had been extended to businesses with less than 500 employees and that those businesses newly defined as SME’s would be released from certain reporting requirements. However, there has been no confirmation from the Government as to whether this change will eventually be applied to gender pay gap reporting. Thus far, it has not and therefore the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for 2022/23 remained in place.
2022/23 Reporting Year: Findings
Analysis by the BBC of this years data has found that the median gender pay gap in terms of hourly pay has fallen from 9.7% to 9.4% in favour of men, compared with 2021/22. Nevertheless, whilst there has been a fall compared to last year, the gap of 9.4% is unchanged compared to the first reporting year (i.e. 2017/18). In the intervening period, the gap had at one point increased to as high as 10.5% in 2019/20
Analysis of the data by the Guardian tally with that of the BBC, finding that the median gender pay gap for 2022/23 was 9.4%. They also found that the gap was identical to that of the first reporting year of 2017/18.
BBC & Guardian Analysis
The BBC and the Guardian also found the following:-
- The gap is wider in the public sector (15.1%), compared to the private sector (8%) - Guardian finding
- 79% of organisations pay men more than women - BBC finding
- The sectors of the economy with the largest gender pay gaps are finance and insurance, and construction (both 22.1%). By contrast, the sector with the smallest gap is accommodation and food (1.2%). All sectors of the economy pay men more than women, and in some sectors, the gap widened. In the education sector, for instance, it widened by 0.8% - BBC finding. The Guardian found that the construction sector had the largest gap (22.8%), with the finance and insurance sector close behind in second with a gap of 22.4%
- Men are paid at least 10% more than women by almost half of employers. Around 10% pay men and women the same amount, or the difference in either direction is less than 0.5%. 3% of employers pay women at least 10% more than men - Guardian finding
Reaction
Commenting upon the latest gender pay gap data, the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak, stated: "The gender pay gap is closing at a snail’s pace. At current rates of progress, it will take more than 20 years to close it. That’s just not good enough.....It’s clear that just publishing gender pay gaps isn’t working. Companies must be required to publish action plans to explain what steps they’ll take to close their pay gaps."
Nowak added: "Flexible working is key to keeping mums in jobs and is our best way of closing the gender pay gap. Ministers must change the law so that every single job is advertised with the possible flexible options stated, and all workers must have the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job."
Government Response
A representative from the Government, however, contended that the "government has taken significant action to support women at work. The chancellor recently announced a childcare revolution with 30 hours free childcare for children over the age of nine months. In December we announced that millions of employees will be able to request flexible working from day one, and earlier this month we launched recruitment for our programme to get Stem returners back into the workplace. We strongly urge organisations to take steps to ensure female employees reach their full potential."
