The Government is set to announce that companies will not face fine if they failed to report their gender pay gap this year as they deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the Evening Standard has learnt.
The Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission will today suspend enforcement action for companies who do not report their pay gaps before the looming deadline, effectively giving them a year off the exercise.
Liz Truss, the minister for women and equalities, has endorsed the move.
Public sector bodies had faced a deadline of March 30 to report their pay gaps, with private companies’ numbers due on April 4. It is understood that 3000 companies have already submitted their data.
Gender pay gap reporting rules were brought under the Equality Act in April 2017 for companies with 250 or more employees to display the gap in salaries between men and women.
Businesses are required to report their average hourly wage and bonus gaps and the proportion of men and women who receive bonuses.
The EHRC names and shames organisations which fail to report their gender pay gaps and formally investigates their non-compliance. It has the power to take companies to court to seek fines, but has not yet had to use these powers.
Last year the EHRC named and shamed 47 organisations that failed to report their gaps in time, including drinks bottler Refresco and baggage handler Worldwide Flight Services.
The deadline has sparked a rush for the finish line in previous years – last year around a quarter of organisations filed their data in the final 36 hours before the deadline
Companies are under huge strain as they grapple with the impact of the virus on their business and their staff.
In June 2019, Hilary Spencer, director of the Government Equalities Office, told MPs that there was “probably an argument” for changing the reporting requirements from 2021 and that there would be a review of the legislation in 2022.
