Every company in the UK with more than 250 employees has published their gender pay gap data for the first time indicating there is still a way to go

gender pay gap

Every UK company with more than 250 employees has now published their gender pay gap data, it was announced today.

The country was one of the first to introduce regulation requiring employers to do this by April this year, when the government mandated Britain’s 10,000 companies with more than 250 employees to make their gender pay gap data public.

The government’s announcement suggests not all businesses submitted reports by the deadline but they have now been filed.

What the gender pay gap data showed

Results show more than 75% of these businesses pay their male staff a higher average salary than their female counterparts, while more than half give higher bonuses to men than women.

The data also highlighted that 80% of the companies have more women in low-salary positions than their highest-paid positions.

Minister for women and equalities Penny Mordaunt, said: “It is appalling that in the twenty-first century there is still a big difference between the average earnings of men and women.

“While I am encouraged that over 10,000 employers have published their data, these figures set out in real terms for the first time some of the challenges and the scale of this issue.

“We need to take action to ensure businesses know how they can make use of their best talent and make their gender pay gaps a thing of the past.”

Companies including Google, Facebook, Apple and Ryanair were among those that were forced to admit a gender imbalance in high-earning positions through the gender pay gap data.

gender pay gap
Minister for women and equalities Penny Mordaunt

UK government committed to solving gender pay gap issue

In a bid to highlight ways in which companies can improve the recruitment progression of women and close the gender pay gap the government equalities office today published its What Works document.

It includes advice on how to:

  • Assess candidates based on actual tasks they would be expected to perform in their role, and make interviews more structured to avoid unfair bias creeping in.

 

  • Encourage salary negotiation by showing salary ranges, as women are currently less likely to negotiate their pay than men.

 

  • Introduce transparency to pay, promotion and reward processes.

Rebecca Hilsenrate, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “Building on the work by the government equalities office, our enforcement approach has proved to be successful, resulting in full compliance by all those considered to be in scope.

“We have been clear that it is not only the right thing to do but that we would use all our enforcement powers where employers failed to report.

“They have taken our warnings seriously and avoided costly court action. We will now be turning our attention to the accuracy of reporting.”