Sign Up for our Free Newsletter
menu
Solicitors Journal Homepage
  • Home
  • News
  • Digital Edition
  • Practice Notes
    • Area of Law
      • Agricultural
      • ADR & Mediation
      • Asylum & Immigration
      • Aviation
      • Bankruptcy and Insolvency
      • Charities
      • Children
      • Clinical negligence
      • Commercial
      • Competition
      • Construction
      • Conveyancing
      • Costs
      • Crime
      • Data Protection
      • Discrimination
      • Education
      • Employment
      • Energy
      • EU
      • Expert witness
      • Family
      • Financial services & Tax
      • Health & Safety
      • Human rights
      • Inquest
      • Insurance
      • Intellectual property
      • Legal Aid
      • Litigation
      • Maritime
      • Media
      • Mergers & Acquisition
      • Pensions
      • Personal injury
      • Police & Prisons
      • Private client
      • Procedures
      • Professional negligence
      • Property
      • Public Law
      • Regulation
      • Residential
      • Road traffic
      • Vulnerable Clients
    • Management
      • Business Development and Marketing
      • Career development
      • Covid-19
      • Education & Training
      • Equality & diversity
      • Ethics and Compliance
      • Finance
      • Human Resources
      • Knowledge management
      • Leadership
      • Legal services
      • Marketing
      • Pro bono
      • Professional indemnity
      • Regulators
      • Risk & Compliance
      • Technical legal practice
      • Technology
      • Wellbeing
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • Interview
  • More
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletter
    • FAQ
    • Guide to Authors
    • Media Pack
    • Site Map
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Follow us:
    Twitter
    LinkedIn
© 2023 Solicitors Journal in partnership with the International In-house Counsel Journal | Picture Credits: Freepix, Unsplash and by permission of the authors
Daniella McGuigan

Daniella McGuigan

PartnerOgletree Deakins International LLP
Quotation Marks

April 2022 will mark the 5-year anniversary of the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations in the UK – but, 5 years on, is it time for reform?

Mind the (gender pay) gap?

Thu Mar 31 2022Opinion
Mind the (gender pay) gap?

Daniella McGuigan considers equal pay for women and discrimination

April 2022 will mark the 5-year anniversary of the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations in the UK – but, 5 years on, is it time for reform?

Pause for thought?

Built into the regulations is an obligation to review their impact at this stage, which includes an assessment as to whether they have achieved their objective. There is no doubt the introduction of the gender pay gap reporting requirements was well intended – but there has been much criticism since their introduction – in particular, that the crude pay gap calculation method does not lend itself to addressing whether or not there is a pay discrimination (i.e. equal pay) issue within an organisation.

A true reflection?

A gender pay gap is not necessarily evidence of discriminatory pay practices. It is possible for an organisation to publish favourable gender pay gap data but have discriminatory pay practices running rife. Conversely, a large gender pay gap is not necessarily indicative of pay discrimination either.

Equal pay is about ensuring those doing the same or similar work are paid equally. A gender pay gap is about measuring the average woman’s hourly rate in a workplace against the average man’s hourly rate, without accounting for the fact they may be doing very different job roles. A gender pay gap would only reveal an equal pay issue in a workplace if all men and women had the exact same workplace characteristics, such as job role, performance, experience and so on.

A new backdrop

When the regulations were introduced, no one could predict a few years down the line employers would be faced with the covid-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, it was evident the effects were more keenly felt by more vulnerable parts of the workforce, which in turn accentuated issues like the gender, disability and ethnicity pay gaps. During the pandemic – and just two weeks before the annual 4 April 2020 deadline for private sector businesses to publish their gender pay gap statistics – the UK government announced, because of the covid-19 pandemic, there would be no mandatory requirement to report gender pay gap data in 2020. Many businesses opted out when the legal requirement was lifted. In 2021, the reporting deadline was pushed back from April 2021 to October 2021.

The result of the pandemic means there is now a 2-year period during which compliance with the regulations was interrupted. This, in turn, means the effectiveness of the regulations cannot be meaningfully reviewed without consistent, reliable and comparable data.

The 2021 results showed the gender pay gap had reduced (i.e. improved) slightly. However, furloughed workers who were earning less than their full pay during the pandemic were excluded from the reporting requirements – and more women were furloughed than men. This is likely to have skewed the data, as many lower paid women have been excluded, such the 2021 positive data trend is unlikely to be sustained in future reporting years.

What does this mean in practice?

Although not mandatory in the UK, employers should try to accompany their published results with an action plan, setting out measures and a timescale to address any unequal pay practices moving forward. This approach is already commonplace in other countries, such as France and Spain. Inadequate representation of females at the more senior levels within an organisation is very often the key driver to a larger gender pay gap – which may be partly due to a retention problem. Increased flexibility in the workplace for both men and women can help to address this issue. It will also help to move away from outdated stereotypes many men have had to deal with in the workplace for years. The gender pay gap is not just a female problem. For example, men should have greater paternity leave periods than the statutory 2-week period – and should be supported rather than stigmitised if they request to work flexibly or part-time. It is only when society embraces change and moves away from historical gender stereotypes that workplaces will hopefully do the same – with or without legislation.

The response to the covid-19 pandemic has shown employers can adapt and offer remote and flexible-working arrangements, which may support both men and women in a manner that promotes greater equality across their working practices. If handled well, these measures could have a positive impact by reducing the gender pay gap going forward.

Daniella McGuigan is a partner with Ogletree Deakins International LLP: ogletreedeakins.com

Tags:
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement
Latest News

Government agrees to establish music industry working group

Wed May 31 2023

UK reaffirms commitment to ending plastic pollution by 2040

Wed May 31 2023

Law Society welcomes new free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand

Wed May 31 2023

Committee publishes report on strategy to reform social care for children

Tue May 30 2023

Government launches new fraud squad to combat fraud in public services

Tue May 30 2023

Four Bars issue joint statement on the cab rank rule

Tue May 30 2023

Parents and carers to be given new employment protections

Fri May 26 2023

Committee finds plans to level up the country risk failure due to funding concerns

Fri May 26 2023

Government consults on enforcement mechanisms for animal health and welfare offences

Fri May 26 2023
Featured
A closer look at the trademark dispute between retail giants Lidl and Tesco
FeatureThu May 18 2023
A closer look at the trademark dispute between retail giants Lidl and Tesco

Angela Jack dissects the recent ruling in Lidl Great Britain Ltd & others v Tesco Stores Limited & others [2023] EWHC 873 (Ch)

The UK maternity care crisis: £5bn in avoidable damages claims
FeatureThu May 18 2023
The UK maternity care crisis: £5bn in avoidable damages claims

Billions of pounds in NHS damages claims could have been avoided had recommendations from past reviews been followed by action, argues Kerstin Scheel

Understanding Chinese underground banking and the risks
FeatureThu May 18 2023
Understanding Chinese underground banking and the risks

Laurence Howland explores the mechanisms of Chinese underground banking and the red flags

The building blocks for a successful collaborative culture
FeatureThu May 18 2023
The building blocks for a successful collaborative culture

Chris Marston explores the ways in which law firms can establish a powerful collaborative culture

SJ Interview: James Fulforth
SJ InterviewThu May 18 2023
SJ Interview: James Fulforth

The Solicitors Journal spoke to James Fulforth, Kingsley Napley’s newly appointed Senior Partner, about his experiences in the law, his thoughts on the UK’s tech sector and what he hopes to achieve in his new role

Long-awaited reports and controversial bills dominate
ForewordTue Apr 25 2023
Long-awaited reports and controversial bills dominate

Sophie Cameron takes a look at the news in the April Foreword