UK firms to be given six months following the Gender Pay Gap reporting deadline before enforcement action taken
23 February 2021
The media has reported that companies will not be required to publish Gender Pay Gap (GPG) data for a further six months, and it is expected that the Government Equalities Office (GEO) will announce the extension of the deadline shortly.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has urged companies to report by the standard deadline where they are able to. However, they also confirmed that enforcement proceedings would not commence until six months following the standard deadline date.
Both the GEO and the EHRC made the announcement last year that, due to the pressures caused by the outbreak of coronavirus, the enforcement of gender pay gap reporting deadlines was suspended for the reporting year 2019-20.
Since 2017, any organisations with 250 or more employees have been required to publish certain figures relating to their GPG on their websites, and to share this data with the Government. Businesses that do not report within the deadlines, or who submit inaccurate data risk court orders and fines as they would be in breach of regulations.
Chair of the EHRC, Kishwer Faulkners, commented:
“We know employers take gender pay gap reporting seriously and 6,000 organisations managed to report their data last year while reacting to the effects of Covid-19. It is not just the law but the right thing to do for their staff, demonstrating a commitment to all their female employees, which is why organisations like the CBI have supported our decision to recommence reporting and enforcement.”
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.