8 things you didn't know about the gender pay gap

Today, a new law comes into power which forces UK companies to publish their gender pay gap, in a bid to improve equality in the workplace. Voluntary, private and public sector employers with 250 or more employees will be required to publish their figures by 2018. And we're one of the first countries in the world to enforce this.

iStock

“Over their lifetime, women have a kind of female forfeit,” Caroline Dinenage MP, Minister for Women, Equalities and Early Years, told GLAMOUR. “They’re likely to get paid less during their career than male counterparts, and this needs to change. Our goal is to encourage women into the top jobs and make it easier for them to do so.”

But while this may all seem pretty straightforward – a step in the right direction in the fight for gender equality – there’s a bit more to this law than 140-character tweets and news bulletins allow. We’ve got the lowdown:

1. Is this about men being paid more than women for doing the same job?

No, the Equal Pay Act made that illegal in 1970. This is about challenging (and hopefully changing) the practices and regulations that companies adopt which make it harder for women to work their way through the pipeline. “Rather than pay discrimination, this is about companies addressing what women are likely to earn in your business compared to their male counterparts,” explains Dinenage. “This doesn’t address the gender pay gap, it just shows what and where it is. The next step is giving companies the tools to address it. This is the start of the conversation, not the panacea.”

2. But how will this actually help close the gap?

This is a damn good question. The short, and frustratingly unsatisfying answer, is that it’s too early to tell. Unless companies aren’t adhering to the Equal Pay Act, they’re not doing anything illegal, so if they have a high pay gap, there won’t necessarily be any reprimand. The hope is that companies will be ‘encouraged’ to do something about it, especially since a recent report revealed that closing the gap could add £150 billion back into the economy.

3. So has anything happened yet?

Although no one has to publish their data by 2018, some companies have done it already. “Deloitte, Schroders, Tesco and Virgin Money are just three examples of companies which are already publishing their data,” says Dinenage.

4. Do companies want to do this?

We know. We can't believe we still have to talk about this. But some people don't think the gender pay gap is as important as it is. According to a survey by NGA Human Resources, 29% of bosses do not believe the gender pay gap is a business issue (WTF, right?) While only 250 employers were surveyed, this is a potential indication that some companies will view today’s new law as a punitive measure, rather than a benefit to their business.

5. Will I be able to see this data?

A company’s pay gap data won’t just be available to the government, it'll be there for everyone to see. “Businesses have to publish information on their own website,” explains Dinenage. “And it has to be easily accessible, not just hidden away in a corner of their site. They can also publish a narrative alongside the data if they want to explain what they’re going to do about it.” The data will also be published on a government website, so that women can compare gender pay gaps between sectors, as well as companies within a certain sector. In other words, there ain't no hiding.

6. What will the government do to help?

It won’t just be up to the companies to close their gap. “We will offer guidance and support on how to tackle the issue,” Dinenage says. “Alongside the Women’s Business Council, we’ll offer support on how to implement policies such as flexible working and shared parental leave, which will help provide that crucial encouragement to female employees. We need to ensure interview panels aren’t just a room full of middle-aged men looking to recruit in their own image. When Barclays ensured there was a woman on all their promotion panels, the number of women promoted doubled.”

7. What will the data look like?

The published data won’t just be one figure, which would be open to discrepancies. To help get the clearest, most honest picture possible, the law requires companies to publish a number of figures: 1), their median gender pay gap figures (the wage of the 'middle' earner, taken from a 'snapshot' period this month), 2) their mean gender pay gap figures (the full earnings distribution, which is useful as women are often over-represented at the low end, and men are over-represented at the high end), 3) the spread of male and female earners across an organisation (which will help to show employers where women's progress might be stalling), and 4) the gender pay gaps for any bonuses paid out during the year (as the number of men who receive a bonus can be considerably higher than the women at some companies).

8. What else is being done to close the gap?

According to the government, these reporting requirements are part of wider work they’re doing to support women in the workplace. This includes £5 million to increase returnships, offering 30 hours of free childcare, and introducing shared parental leave and new rights to request flexible working. For more information head to gov.uk.

• 18.1%: The UK's current gender pay gap.

• 19.3%: The UK's gender pay gap in 2015.

• 27.5%: The UK's gender pay gap in 1997.

• 250: The number of employers a company needs before they have to publish their gender pay gap.

• 9,000: The number of employers set to publish their data from today.

• 15 million: The approximate number of employees that will be factored in to the data.

• 54.9%: Gender pay gap between highest paid men and women.

Can't wait till 2018? Try the government's tool to find out the gender pay gap for your job.

It is illegal for a man to be paid more than a woman for doing the same job. If this is happening to you, call the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100 or visit acas.org.uk.