Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that companies meet their obligation to report on and produce an action plan to address gender pay gaps by 4 April 2018.

In 2017 the government introduced ground-breaking regulations requiring large employers to publish specific gender pay gap data. In this first year of reporting we are focussed on ensuring employers are aware of their obligations and that they report by the deadline.

The Government Equalities Office is working closely with employers to raise awareness of their obligations under the gender pay gap regulations, and is supporting them to report. They have written to employers to notify them of the requirement to report, and guidance on reporting, produced in partnership with Acas, is available online:

www.acas.org.uk/genderpay

They are also encouraging organisations to go beyond the mandatory requirements and publish an action plan, setting out how they intend to close their gender pay gap.