TACKLING THE GENDER PAY GAP AND DISCRIMINATION
“My Government will make further progress to tackle
the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the
basis of their race, faith,
gender, disability or sexual
orientation.”
Gender Pay Gap
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This year we introduced mandatory Gender Pay Gap
reporting regulations for large employers.
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To help tackle the causes of the Gender Pay Gap, we have
introduced Shared Parental Leave, and extended the right to
request Flexible Working. We are also doubling the free
childcare entitlements for working parents of 3 and 4 year
olds, and we introduced Tax-Free Childcare from April 2017. In
the 2017 Budget, we allocated £5 million to support returners
who have taken a break from work.
Race
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The Race Disparity Audit was announced in August 2016 to
look into racial disparities in public services stretching
right across Government. The report will be published later
this year. It will highlight the differences in outcomes for
people of different backgrounds in every area from health to
education, employment to welfare, skills and criminal
justice.
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The Government welcomed Ruby McGregor-Smith’s review of
’Race in the workplace', and we are working with Sir John
Parker, Chairman of Anglo American Pic., to improve the ethnic
diversity of boards by 2021.
Faith
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In December 2016, Dame Louise Casey published her
independent review on how to boost opportunity and integration
in isolated and deprived communities. We will bring forward
plans for tackling these issues in the coming months through a
new integration strategy.
LGB&T Equality
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We have established a £3 million programme from 2016 to
2019 to prevent and address homophobic, biphobic and
transphobic bullying in schools.
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To support transgender equality we have increased
investment in Gender Identity Services and issued new guidance
to prisons on the treatment and management of transgender
offenders.
Disability
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In February 2017, the Minister for Disabled People
announced 11 new disability sector champions who have recently
articulated their shared ambition to encourage businesses to
make their accessibility information prominent and share best
practice, adopting the motto “Disability Visibility”.
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We are promoting the use of social enterprises which
support disabled people, both through increasing the use of the
Social Value Act 2012 in central government procurement, and
through the development of the wider Industrial
Strategy.
Key facts
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The gender pay gap for all employees is 18.1 % - the
lowest on record.
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McKinsey estimates that increasing gender equality in
work could add £150 billion to the UK economy by 2025.
