In brief

On 14 December 2020, the government published a new set of guidance for employers on their gender pay gap reporting requirements. The 2019/2020 reporting period was suspended last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the 2020/2021 reporting period (which is based on data at the snapshot date of 5 April 2020) has not been suspended, so qualifying employers will need to report this period’s gender pay gap by 4 April 2021.

Contents

Key takeaways

The new guidance includes information on who needs to report their gender pay gap, what data must be gathered, how to carry out the relevant calculations, what information must be reported and how to publish gender pay gap reports. However, the gender pay gap reporting requirements themselves have not changed.

A question that many employers will need to consider this year as a result of the pandemic is how furlough affects their gender pay gap reporting obligations. In summary:

  • furloughed employees should be included when assessing whether the 250 employee threshold for triggering the gender pay gap reporting regulations is met
  • they should also be included in the gender pay gap calculations relating to bonus pay
  • however, if the employer did not ‘top-up’ furlough pay, the furloughed employees should not be included in the gender pay gap calculations relating to hourly pay

If gender pay gap calculations are significantly impacted as a result of placing employees on furlough, employers may wish to consider including an explanation for the changes in their narrative.

Guidance

Links to the new guidance are set out below:

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