The Prime Minister announces new drive to
improve workplace equality – calling on more companies to report
their gender pay gap and take action to close it.
New figures published this week by the ONS
show the UK’s overall gender pay gap rising marginally to 18.4%,
but the gap for full-time workers falling to a record low – from
9.4% in 2016 to 9.1% in 2017.
To close the gender pay gap further, the
Prime Minister is calling on companies to:
- Improve the pipeline to ensure progress on female
representation at senior levels, including supporting women to
progress to middle management and offering return to work
schemes;
- Publish their gender pay gap data, including companies with
fewer than 250 employees; and
- Make flexible working a reality for all employees by
advertising all jobs as flexible from Day 1, unless there are
solid business reasons not to.
As part of the commitment to drive forward
workplace equality, the Women’s Business Council which the Prime
Minister established as Home Secretary in 2012, will be advising
her on progress and good practice in business. The council will
also be providing recommendations in key areas including middle
management, flexible working, working parents and return-to-work
schemes.
The Prime Minister said:
“Tackling injustices like the gender pay
gap is part of building a country that works for everyone.
“Already many of the UK’s top companies are
leading the way in making sure everyone's contributions to the
workplace are valued equally, and it is encouraging news that the
gap has fallen this year for full-time workers.
"But the gender pay gap isn’t going to
close on its own – we all need to be taking sustained action to
make sure we address this.
"We need to see a real step-change in the
number of companies publishing their gender pay data and offering
progression and flexibility for all employees.
“That’s why today I am calling on more
businesses, both small and large, to take action to make sure the
gender pay gap is eliminated once and for all.”
The government introduced a legal
requirement for all employers with over 250 employees to publish
their gender pay and bonus data by April 2018.
Top companies including Weetabix, Fujitsu,
TSB, Virgin Media and SSE have already reported their gender pay
gap and have said how they will take action to close it. The
Prime Minister is now calling on more employers to follow their
lead, including encouraging businesses with fewer than 250
employees to voluntarily publish their pay gap too.
Minister for Women and Equalities said:
“It is simply good business sense to
recognise the enormous potential of women and to take action to
nurture and progress female talent.
“That is why we have introduced a legal
requirement for all large employers to publish their gender pay
and bonus data by April 2018. Employers now need to get on with
publishing their pay gap. By shining a light on where
there are gaps, they can take action
and make sure that we are harnessing the talents and skills of
men and women."
The gender pay gap in the UK has come down
from 21.9% in 2007 and 27.5% of FTSE100 board members are now
women, up from 12.5% in 2011.
The UK is already a world leader in this
field and today’s announcement builds on:
•
the work to get 33 per cent of women on boards by 2020 and
eliminate all-male boards in the FTSE 350;
•
the system of shared parental leave introduced in April 2015,
under which mothers can choose to end their maternity leave early
and working parents can then decide how they want to share the
remaining leave; and
•
the rules on flexible working introduced in June 2014, which
extend the right to request flexible working to all employees and
place a duty on employers to consider all requests for flexible
working in a reasonable manner.
By closing gender pay gaps in work McKinsey
estimates that we would add £150 billion to the UK economy by
2025.
Notes to
Editors
- Find out more about the government’s drive to close the
gender pay gap including the requirement for all employers with
more than 250 to publish their gender
pay and bonus data here
-
The ONS figures show the gender pay gap for
all employees has marginally increased from 18.2% in 2016 to
18.4% in 2017.
-
This is the net impact of both the
full-time and part-time gender pay gaps moving closer to zero,
together with an increase in the proportion of employees
working full-time versus part-time.
Source: Labour Market Statistics table
A01(3)
-
The full-time gender pay gap was 9.1% and
the part-time GPG was -5.1%. These compare to 9.4% and -6.1%
respectively for 2016.
-
Similar year-on-year increases have
occurred in previous years, for example, in 2013 and 2015, but
the longer-term trend is downward, from 27.5% in 1997 and 21.9%
in 2007.
-
All figures were calculated from a snapshot
taken in April of the relevant year.
