Mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reports on the way for large employers
After a recent consultation showed widespread support for requiring firms with 250 or more employees to report on ethnicity and disability pay gaps, the Government has announced that it intends to introduce legislation to make this obligatory.
Last year, the Government invited views on how to implement mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers in Great Britain. It has now published the outcome of that consultation which shows that there were 857 responses with over 70% either “strongly” or “somewhat” agreeing to all the proposals.
Draft clauses of primary legislation to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers are included in the response document to the consultation, although these may be subject to further refinement when introduced to Parliament. The draft has been prepared in collaboration with businesses who are already reporting on their ethnicity and disability pay differences on a voluntary basis.
Minister for Equalities, Seema Malhotra, said: “By introducing ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting, this Government is committed to ensuring transparency and tackling unfairness where it exists, promoting inclusion in our workplaces and our economy.”
The aim is to apply the new requirements within the existing framework for mandatory gender pay gap reporting by:
· using the same geographic scope
· requiring the same six calculations
· sharing the same “snapshot” dates for collecting pay information and statutory reporting dates
· requiring employers to upload their ethnicity and disability pay gap data to an online reporting platform
· making the changes subject to the same enforcement mechanisms.
The Government will require employers to take actions to address any ethnicity and disability pay gaps in line with the plans being taken forward to introduce equality action plans on gender and menopause.
