These Regulations enforce greater transparency on gender pay differences for large businesses in the UK by requiring employers with at least 250 employees to publish annual information to show whether there is a difference in the average pay of their male and female employees. The gender pay gap is a measurement of the difference between men and women’s average earnings. It is not about men and women being paid differently for the same job, which has been prohibited by equal pay legislation since 1975.
For context, the UK’s gender pay gap has fallen over time: the overall UK gender pay gap was 25% ten years ago and is now 18.1% according to statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in October. However, a voluntary approach to employer reporting has not led to sufficient progress. The voluntary initiative Think, Act, Report was introduced in 2011 to promote greater transparency. Whilst over 300 organisations signed up to this initiative, HMG are aware of only around 11 of those that have voluntarily published gender pay information.
