Extend gender pay gap reporting to include small firms, urges Committee

07 Aug 2018

A report published by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has stated that the gender pay gap reporting initiative should be extended to include firms with 50 employees or more.

MPs have suggested that small businesses are ‘more likely to show a greater gender pay gap’ and should, therefore, be encouraged to report their pay gap information.

Currently, only businesses with 250 employees or more are required by law to publish their gender pay gap figures on their website and report their pay gap data to the government via its gender pay gap reporting service.

The BEIS Committee’s report was compiled from information gathered from all 10,000 UK employers who were recently required to report their gender pay gap information.

The first round of statutory gender pay gap reporting revealed significant disparities in the rates of pay for men and women. Some 78% of employers have pay gaps in favour of men, according to the data.

The BEIS Committee is calling for employers to publish annual gender pay gap progress reports, alongside comprehensive ‘action plans’, outlining the steps they will take to help close their pay gap.

Rachel Reeves, Chair of the BEIS Committee, said that the next step should be for employers to analyse ‘why they have a pay gap, and then determine the right initiatives, policies and practices to close it’.