July 15, 2015

The Government has reconfirmed its intention to require companies with 250 or more employees to publish gender pay gap information. A consultation paper has been published and a link to the consultation document can be seen below. The main purpose of the consultation is to seek views on the level of detail of gender pay gap information that should be provided. It asks whether the information should, for example, be the overall difference between the average earnings of men and women at the particular organisation, or whether it should be broken down into categories (such as part-time, full-time, grade or job type etc). The Government also wants to know whether employers should be required to provide additional (and perhaps more problematic) information, explaining any pay gaps and setting out what action they intend to take to rectify any discrepancies. In addition, they seek comments on how often relevant employers should publish the information. Diversity and equal pay is clearly still an issue in lots of businesses, including those in the media sector. These regulations may therefore be a useful step towards focusing minds even more on this issue. The consultation closes on 6 September 2015 and apparently the regulations are expected to come in to force in the first half of 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/closing-the-gender-pay-gap.