Gender Equality And Pay

This summer, 30 female managers, backed by the Transport Salaried Staff Association, launched an equal pay claim against Network Rail. The managers allege that they are being paid between £3,000 and £4,000 less a year than male colleagues doing the same job. The TSSA claims that if these 30 claimants are successful, 3,000 female employees of Network Rail could be eligible for pay rises, costing Network Rail in excess of £10 million per year.

This claim highlights that the gender pay gap, although narrowing, is still very much present in 2014. This is particularly evident looking at recent figures released by the House of Commons Library which show that in 1997 the pay gap between men and women was 27.5 per cent, over the following years it narrowed steadily, but in 2013 it rose slightly from 19.6 per cent to 19.7 per cent.

Legislating for Change - Equality Act 2010

Publication of Pay Information

Some commentators argue that Section 78 of the Equality Act 2010 could be part of the solution.

Section 78 (which is not yet in force) enables the government to issue regulations requiring employers who have 250 or more employees to publish information about the difference in pay between female and male employees.

If the section is brought into force, the regulations made under it will be able to specify what information is to be supplied about the employer and employee, as well as the form and timing of any publication. Additionally, an employer may be required to publish this information annually (but no more frequently). If an employer does not comply with the publication requirements, they could face civil enforcement procedures or be liable for a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to £5,000.

The Explanatory Note to Section 78 says the government wants large private and voluntary sector employers to voluntarily publish information about the difference between pay for men and women as opposed to being required to provide information by regulation. In order to facilitate this, and to encourage employers to improve gender equality by means of greater transparency, the government developed 'Think, Act, Report' which provides employers with a framework to help identify issues in relation to pay, to address inequalities and to share their findings with other companies.

In order to allow time for voluntary participation to gain momentum, the government decided that it would not create regulations under this section before April 2013, and then...

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