The Gender Pay Gap

The Gender Pay Gap – Current Stats, Rules and Reporting Explained

The gender pay gap has been in the news a lot recently. This month, data from 500 top UK businesses revealed that men were being paid an average of 15% more than women.

Since the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970, it has been illegal to pay men and women different rates for the same job. However, the gender pay gap (the difference between how much men and women are paid on average) still exists.

In this post, we explore the gender pay gap – looking at some stats and outlining the new responsibilities of employers when it comes to reporting gender pay, ahead of the April 2018 deadline.

Gender Pay Gap – Current Stats

The latest (April 2017) Gender Pay Gap report revealed some interesting statistics about gender and pay in the UK.

• Taking both full-time and part-time employees together, men are paid more on average than women for all age groups (except those aged 16-17)
• The gender pay gap varies by age – and widens as people get older
• Women earn a median average of 3.5% more at 16-17
• Men earn a median average of 2% more in 18-21 age range, 7.6% more in the 22-29 range, 12.7% more in the 30-39 range, 25.3% more in the 40-49 range, 26.6% more in the 50-59 range and 20.7% more in the 60+ bracket
• For high earners (top 10%), men earn an average of 18.2% more than women
• For part-time employees, women earn 5.1% more per hour than men
• For full time employees, men earn 9.1% more based on median hourly earnings.
• Overall, the median pay gap is dropping – down from 9.4% in 2016.

Please note that these statistics cover all employees, regardless of job role and industry. It does not compare the salaries of men and women working in the same roles within the same organisation.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting – Responsibilities for Employers

Newly introduced gender pay reporting legislation requires businesses with more than 250 employees to provide data on gender pay. This 250 figure does not include agency staff, who are the responsibility of the agency provider.

As part of the reporting obligations, organisations must publish the following information on the company website, and provide it to the government:

• The mean gender pay gap
• The median gender pay gap
• The mean bonus gender pay gap
• The median bonus gender pay gap
• The proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
• The proportion of males and females in each quartile band

The deadline for reporting is 4th April 2018 (or 30th March for Public Sector Organisations). Additional information about Gender Pay Gap reporting and guides on how to work out the stats can be found on the ACAS website.

Employers can register their organisation on the government reporting system here - https://www.gov.uk/report-gender-pay-gap-data.

Championing Equality at Prestige Recruitment

At Prestige, we strongly believe in pay equality. We work to ensure that all the roles we recruit for around the country reward candidates based on experience, skills and the value they bring to an organisation.

Appoint Prestige as your recruitment partner, and we will ensure you benefit from the right candidates with the right experience, regardless of gender, age, background, race or ability. If you are looking at ways to close the gender pay gap in your organisation, we can help you to source candidates with the right experience for your advertised roles.

Come to Prestige looking for a job, and you can do so in the confidence that you will be treated fairly, and giving a level playing field, whoever you are.

For additional information about our Gender Pay policy, please contact your local office today.

 

Posted: Fri 12 Jan 2018