Companies who have failed to meet new gender pay gap reporting obligations could face investigations as early as June this year, MPs have been told by the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
Since 4 April, all charities and private companies with 250 or more employees have been required to publish their gender pay gap calculations. For public sector bodies, the deadline was 30 March.
Writing to the Treasury select committee Rebecca Hilsenrath, EHRC CEO, reported that the enforcement process commenced on 9 April, when the commission wrote to all employers whom the Government Equalities Office (GEO) believe to be in scope of the regulations, but who had not reported their pay gap data.
Employers were given 28 days in which to comply with the regulations or face further action. Hilsenrath said following the letter, over 400 employers have either submitted data or confirmed they are not caught by the regulations.
The next stage for private sector employers will be an investigation under section 20 of the Equality Act 2006. In her letter, Hilsenrath confirmed that the EHRC will publish details of all employers that reach the investigation stage, plus its final report on its website so the information is publicly available.
Hilsenrath was not, however, able to provide details at the moment of employers from the financial services sector who have not met the deadline, as requested by the select committee. The EHRC has previously indicated that 1,557 companies overall missed the deadline.
‘We anticipate commencing our first tranche of investigations at the beginning of June and would be happy to provide you with a further update then,’ Hilsenrath said.
Kerri Constable, associate director from RSM Employer Services Ltd, said: ‘We have previously warned employers that failure to comply with the gender pay gap rules on time runs the risk of reputational damage.
‘Clearly, the EHRC is not wasting any time in launching investigations into any private sector companies that it suspects of being in breach of the new rules. Swift action will need to be taken by affected companies if they wish to avoid being publicly named.’
EHRC letter to the chair of the Treasury select committee is here.
Report by Pat Sweet
