Government reforms (3): Gender pay gap

What do we already know?

In our February 2016 Newsletter Government reforms (2): Gender pay – mend the gap!  we updated you that the Government had issued a second consultation containing the draft Equality Act (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2016. These set out the proposed framework for the new gender pay reporting requirements. The consultation closed on 11 March 2016.

What’s new?

The Government has said that its intention is for the gender pay gap reporting requirements to apply to “relevant employees” in the wider sense and not just those with a contract of employment.

This would mean also including those working under a contract of apprenticeship or a contract personally to do work and significantly widens the scope of the draft regulations as originally understood.  This means that, for example, LLP members and some self-employed contractors are likely to be treated as “relevant employees” for these purposes.

Hopefully the Government’s response to the consultation (which closed on 11 March 2016) will bring welcome clarification on this point.