Gender pay gap reporting may be mandatory in the UK, but it hasn’t yet become a legal requirement for employers in Northern Ireland.
And while consultations about whether businesses should be producing annual reports first began in 2016, this never amounted to a formal ruling.
But under new proposed government plans, a legal duty for employers to report on gender pay gaps may be on the horizon. That’s if they meet certain criteria.
When we talk about the gender pay gap, we’re talking the differences in pay between men and women in an organisation.
In the UK, all employers who have 250 or more employees have to create a gender pay gap report for their business every year by law. This includes employers who hire casual workers, zero-hour workers and self-employed contractors.
It’s also down to the employer to consider how their policies and practices may be influential in widening the gender pay gap.
A gender pay gap report should show what the pay gap between men and women in your company is (looking at the mean and median figure). That includes hourly pay and bonuses. So you’ll need to work this out.
Your report should also cover the number of men and women in your company who receive a bonus and the number of men and women at each quartile of the pay scale.
In the UK, this report then needs to be published on the government website.
The government is proposing that employers who have 250 or more employees should publish gender pay gap reports every year.
They are currently in consultations, which are set to end on 14th February 2025.
In November 2024, a report on Women In Northern Ireland was published, revealing that in 2023, women earned 7.8% less than men in Northern Ireland. Findings also revealed that for every £1 a man earned, a woman earned 92p.The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA)
Under these plans, there would be a number of steps to take to fulfil your reporting duty.
This would include creating a plan of action. So in this plan, you would need to be able to set out the measures you’re taking to tackle the gender pay gap in your company.
On top of this, you would also need to carry out ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. Although further detail on this still needs to be confirmed.
As consultations are underway, the government is asking for responses and comments from businesses. So, you are invited to respond to the consultation before the deadline (14th February 2025).
It’s likely that if passed, it would take quite a while for this legislation to come into force. However, it’s important to be aware of how this could develop in the next few years and keep on top of any updates as they come in.
And if you have any questions at all about gender pay gap reporting, just get in touch with one of our advisers:
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
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