Private sector employers required to publish gender pay gap information

The coalition government has sanctioned a Liberal Democrat amendment to the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to 'activate' section 78 of the Equality Act 2010.

The move come about as a result of the Conservative party giving in to pressure from the Liberal Democrats and Labour to force large employers to do more to eliminate the gender pay gap, which currently stands at 9.4 per cent for full-time employees and almost 40 per cent for part-time workers.

Private sector employers with 250 or more employees will be required to publish gender pay gap information, revealing the differences in the pay of male and female employees in their organisation.

Non-compliance with the amendment will amount to an offence, leading to the imposition of a fine of up to £5,000 and/or enforcement action to ensure compliance.

The changes are set to be introduced no later than 12 months after the Bill becomes law.

Lorraine Heard, employment legal director at Bond Dickinson, commented: 'A late amendment to the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will have a big effect on big business.'

Kevin Poulter, SJ's editor at large and legal director at Bircham Dyson Bell, added: 'This is a victory for the Liberal Democrats which will impact business in the course of the next government. However, by restricting the amendment to private sector employers with more than 250 employees, only a few thousand businesses will be affected by the change.

'Even so, there is a real risk that by highlighting inequality in pay within larger organisations, there could again be a rise in equal pay claims as disaffected employees use the information to redress any imbalance.'

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal