In 2017 it was made a compulsory requirement for businesses with over 250 employees to report their gender pay gap figures using a specialised Government website before the end of each financial year. The most recent data, for 2017/2018 showed that a gender pay gap favouring men was present in 7,795 out of 10,016 companies who reported.
What’s Happening in This Tax Year of 2018/19
The deadline for this year’s data to be reported is 4th April, but so far fewer than 25% of companies with more than 250 employees have filed their figures. The good news is that of the c.1,500 companies who reported last year and have also reported this year, 50% have improved their gender pay gap.
There is some bad news, however, and that is that 39% of companies have reported that their gender pay gap is even larger than it was last year. Firms that are guilty of worsening their pay gap include such well-known names as Virgin Atlantic, Npower and Kwik Fit. There were also worrying results from several forms in the financial sector, including: HSBC, Lloyds Bank and RBS and HSBC.
How Can Outsourced Payroll Suppliers Help?
It may be the law that you only need to report on the gender pay gap if you have over 250 employees, but ALL companies, whether you have 5 or 5,000 employees, have a duty and a responsibility to work on closing the gender gap.
By choosing an experienced and compliant outsourced payroll provider, you will have access to the relevant statistics quickly, easily and frequently. This will allow you to continually monitor and report on your gender pay gap data. The last thing you want to be is one of those firms whose gender pay gap is worsening
Here at JLP, our payroll systems are fully compliant with gender pay data, so if you choose us to run your payroll, you can be sure what your position is, which will give you the data you need to make improvements as necessary.
