The Government has approved a change to the “Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015” which will now require employers with 250 employees or more to report on the gender pay gap within their company. These changes are currently going through a period of consultation which will be laid before parliament around June/July.

The regulations will start to commence from October 2016 with a requirement to report a ‘snapshot’ in April 2017 and a full annual report from April 2018 and thereafter.

Now is the time to reflect on how you as a business can report on the data set required by the Government and if indeed this is currently held within your Payroll or HR software.

Questions raised throughout the consultation include what pay is to be reported on and in October 2015 the government confirmed basic pay and bonus payments where to be included.

The government have set out a number of requirements employers will need to adhere to including a signed written statement confirming the information is accurate, publish data on UK websites accessible to employees and the public and retain the information online for 3 years.

Written by Adele Blackham
Published on March 4, 2016