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2020 to 2022 is the “crucial” window for change

Extending gender pay gap reporting to smaller firms, before the formal review of the legislation in 2022, is being considered in parliament.

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'There is probably an argument for making changes to the regime from year 3 onwards'
'There is probably an argument for making changes to the regime from year 3 onwards'

During a parliamentary review of the effectiveness of gender pay gap reporting, Hilary Spencer, director of the Government Equalities Office (GEO), said there are a number of ways to take reporting in the future: one option being to lower the threshold, another to ask for more data on gender, and another to ask for data about different characteristics.

 

When asked what the timescale for any changes would be, Spencer referred to the formal review of the legislation due in 2022, but went on to say there is “probably” an argument for making some changes to the reporting regime from year three onwards.

 

She said: “There is a pretty crucial window between years three and five where, if year one was people getting up to speed with their reporting requirements and year two is trying to start making a difference, you want to start seeing changes between years three and five.”

 

When asked if proposals will be put forward to the government soon, the director’s response was yes, that the GEO is actively working on this and will be putting the advice to ministers on options going forward, including questions about ethnicity pay gap reporting.

 

The question of action plans is another area that the GEO is currently putting advice together on for ministers. There have been, in some sectors, a call for making action plans compulsory in some way so the GEO has been exploring what that might look like.

 

Enforcement was also discussed, although the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) were not present at this particular review and they are the enforcers of gender pay gap reporting. However, the GEO that it is considering a whole range of things. One is whether it requires companies to publish more information about what they are doing, i.e. their policies. Another is whether to ask them to publish more data such as looking at numbers of women on boards or retention post-maternity leave.

 

Full details of the evidence provided to the Treasury Committee on the effectiveness of gender pay gap reporting can be found here.

 

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