Equal Pay: Gender

(asked on 6th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the pressures facing employers in regard to reporting gender pay gap data for the 2019–20 reporting year.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 21st May 2020

We recognise that employers are facing unprecedented uncertainty and pressure due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A number of employers contacted the Government, prior to the announcement on non-enforcement, to highlight their concerns about being unable to meet the gender pay gap reporting deadlines this year.

Due to the COVID 19 outbreak, the Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for the 2019/20 reporting year.

Around 5,500 employers have reported their gender pay gap data to date for the 2019-20 reporting year, which includes more than 2,000 employers who published their data since the suspension of enforcement on 24 March. More employers may choose to report in the coming months and we will continue to provide support to those employers that wish to do so.

The gender pay gap is caused by a range of factors. In order to tackle it, we must ensure that everybody has equal access to opportunities. We will continue to encourage employers to take action to provide equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace.

We are currently considering the impact of the pandemic on the gender pay gap data for the current reporting year. If there are any changes to reporting in future, we will proactively communicate these to all employers.

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