Corporate governance

Gender pay gaps favouring men must be closed, report says

The House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (the Committee) has published its gender pay gap report, Gender pay gap reporting. In the report, the Committee focuses on the adequacy and effectiveness of the gender pay gap reporting requirements introduced by the government with effect from April 2018, as well as the measures that businesses need to take in order to reduce and eliminate the gender pay gap. The report is the first publication of the Committee's inquiry, Corporate Governance: Delivering on fair pay, which was launched in March 2018.

The gender pay gap reporting requirements were introduced by the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010). Under EqA 2010, all public and private sector organisations with more than 250 employees must report their gender pay gap statistics on an annual basis. Public sector organisations were first required to report on 30 March 2018 and private sector organisations were first required to report on 4 April 2018. Organisations are required to publish their statistics and upload them on to a dedicated and searchable government website. Currently, only around half the UK workforce are expected to be covered by the present reporting requirements.

The Committee’s report identifies the UK as having one of the highest gender pay gaps in Europe. It notes that while the median gender pay gap across the economy is