A final draft of the new gender pay gap regulations has been published. Subject to receiving parliamentary approval, the regulations will come into force on 6 April 2017, with the first publications due in April 2018.
The new regulations will require employers with 250 workers or more to publish the mean and median gender pay gap for workers' hourly pay (including a pro rata proportion of any bonuses) and the mean and median gaps in annual bonuses. The data must also show the percentages of men and women who received bonuses and the number of men and women in each pay quartile. The regulations cover all individuals providing personal services to the employer except those who are genuinely self-employed, LLP members and partners.
The figures (which a director or partner must certify for accuracy) will have to be published on the company's website and be easily accessible to everyone – staff and the general public alike – for at least 3 years. The government will also set up its own central database to publish the figures aggregated by sector and it is anticipated that there will be widespread interest by the press and campaigning bodies in the information published.
Acas has published guidance to help employers to implement the changes and it is expected that the government will follow suit before the regulations come into force.
Information will be published as at a snapshot date and the first snapshot will be 6 April 2017. Employers are well advised to do a "dry-run" prior to that date, perhaps under cloak of legal privilege, to determine how the figures will look and how the information can be best presented. In some cases, swift corrective action will be needed to pre-empt employee complaints or even legal claims.
Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017
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