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Government Reforms (1): Mind the ethnicity pay gap

The Government is consulting on implementing mandatory ethnicity pay reporting.  The consultation, available here, sets out options and asks questions on what ethnicity pay information should be reported, who should be expected to report, and the next steps to be taken. The principle behind the consultation already looks very similar to that of the gender pay gap reporting obligations and the duty to report the ethnicity gap is likely to apply a similar threshold of 250 or more employees.

The consultation closes on January 11, 2019. The Government suggests that a trial or phased approach could be used with early adopters to test the process before mandatory reporting is required.

Information to be reported

 The consultation asks for views on what type of ethnicity pay information should be reported. It does not want undue burdens placed on business but does want sufficient information so that meaningful action may be taken.

The proposed options are:

The consultation also seeks views on whether reports should be limited to pay gap information, or whether to include the following wider reporting obligations:

Who needs report?

The Government has stated that it believes employers with fewer than 250 employees should not be expected to publish their ethnicity pay data.  However, the consultation provides further options on what the employee threshold should be. The suggested options are as follows:

Ethnicity data and challenges

 The consultation accepts that there are a number of challenges around collecting, analysing and reporting ethnicity pay information in a meaningful way.  It summarises the following challenges:

The consultation goes on to seek views on:

Next steps

The Government has recognised that some businesses will have to do a lot of ground work to be in a position to publish their ethnicity data. The Government is proposing to offer support similar to that offered for gender pay reporting so watch this space for further details…

 

 

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