Members only: IES has worked almost since its foundation 50 years ago on what we then called ‘equal pay’ and which now commonly comes under the catch-all term ‘gender pay’. Find out about our new resource hub and latest events on gender pay.
IES has worked almost since its foundation 50 years ago on what we then called ‘equal pay’ and which now commonly comes under the catch-all term ‘gender pay’. This work has recently ranged from equal pay audits and analysis for private, public and voluntary sector employers, to research for both the European and UK’s (Equality and) Human Rights Commissions on how best to measure and close various types of pay gaps, such as gender, ethnicity or disability pay gaps. Whilst much of our equal pay work is obviously confidential, we now have a wealth of resources that you can access on our website, covering policy reports, articles, presentations, good practice guides and individual case studies.
Our latest HR Network event on this is coming up on 21 June. We will be hearing from a range of speakers on their experiences of the first year of gender pay reporting under the snappily-titled Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. We’ll also hear of plans for the second year of reporting, running until April 2019. The trouble, you see, is that the gaps aren’t closing.
The passage, preparation and implementation of the Equal Pay Act in 1975 made institutionalised structural pay discrimination illegal and significantly reduced the UK’s national gender pay gap overnight. The gap then declined steadily, supported by the passage of the equal worth amendment in 1984 and the great work of the then Equal Opportunities Commission (now Equality and Human Rights Commission) in pursuing landmark cases. But, over the past decade, that gap has plateaued in many western countries and the all-employee mean gap in the UK actually increased last year to 18.4 per cent.
In 2015, the European Commission hosted a forum which I attended in Brussels to help with the renewal of their five-year gender equality plan. Resulting from this, they re-emphasised transparency as a key means of driving progress and wrote to all member states cajoling them to take action. Two consultations and two changes of government later and the UK finally saw the gender pay reporting regulations implemented last year affecting all employers with 250 or more employees.
The regulations were, and have since been, much debated, with employer bodies criticising the ‘red tape’ involved and the Trades Union Congress arguing that we should have gone further and made equal pay audits compulsory. Widespread confusion is still evident on the difference between equal pay and gender pay gaps. However, the impact of the reporting requirement in conjunction with wider social and political actions has been nothing short of remarkable, with employers falling over themselves to commit to target dates for removal of their gender pay gaps entirely and lists of actions to achieve better female representation at board level.
But just what actions are really effective in closing gaps? IES suspects that even if employers do manage to appoint more female board members, for many, next year’s reports based on this April’s information will show remarkably similar lists, comprising good HR and diversity policies yet, unfortunately, similar gaps as well.
So, come along and debate with us at our next HR workshop the actions that are needed by governments and employers to really get that downward trajectory of gaps motoring once again.
Visit the IES gender pay resource hub
Book onto any of our HR workshops
With a near-equal gender mix at the top of their organisation, Lewisham Council have successfully overcome the continuing gender pay and position inequality that still persists in many organisations across the UK. A new IES report investigates how Lewisham, with 56 per cent of those in senior grades female and a pay gap slightly in favour of women, have achieved this.
How was FDM Group, a global professional services provider, able to achieve a median gender pay gap of zero per cent? This case study report analyses the Company's progress and culture, offering insights for other employers on how to address their own pay gaps.
Duncan Brown's debrief podcast for IES HR Network event 'Gender pay gap reporting: full analysis and insight'.
