Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ratification: 1971)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) received on 26 October 2017.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on the evolution of the gender pay gap in the public and private sectors, and on the implementation of the specific measures taken to reduce it and to address its underlying causes. The Committee also requested the Government to include statistics on the prevalence of overtime, disaggregated by sex and sector of employment. Regarding the latter, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government which shows that, in almost all sectors for which a reliable estimate is available, men work more paid overtime hours than women (an average of 1.3 hours weekly compared to 0.6 hours for women). The Committee notes that according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) varied from 18.2 per cent (after correction) in April 2016 to 18.4 per cent in April 2017 and 17.9 per cent in April 2018. According to the Government, this is the preferred headline measure of the pay gap as it reflects both full-time and part-time earnings and the distribution of employees between them, therefore representing best the overall position of women in the labour market. For the same period (April 2016 to April 2018), the gender pay gap for median earnings for full-time employees decreased from 9.4 per cent to 8.6 per cent. Similarly, the “negative” gender pay gap (in favour of women) among part-time employees varied from minus 6.1 per cent in April 2016 to minus 4.4 per cent in April 2018. The Government explains that average part-time earnings for women have grown faster since 2009 than average part-time earnings for men, indicating that high skilled and better paid women are taking part-time work to accommodate childcare responsibilities. As regards age groups, the Committee notes that figures from the ONS as of April 2018 show that the gender pay gap for full-time employees has virtually been eliminated (i.e. is close to zero) for those aged between 18 and 39 years whereas it widens as from the age of 40 years. For all employees (full-time and part-time), the gender pay gap widens after the age of 30 years and this coincides with an increase in working part-time from this age. The Government indicates that, since 1997, there has been an average annual decrease of almost 0.5 per cent point per year. During that period, according to the ONS, all age groups have seen narrowing gaps apart from those aged 60 years and over, a group for which the gap has widened since 2005. Data from the ONS on the gender pay gap by occupation for full-time employees as of April 2018 reveals that it is in favour of men for all the main occupation groups, ranging from 4.8 per cent for sales and customer service occupations to 23.9 per cent for skilled trades occupations. From a geographic point of view, the same data shows that the gender pay gap for full-time employees has fallen in all regions since 1998, most markedly in Northern Ireland where it is now in favour of women (minus 3.5 per cent). However, in London, where the pay gap was below the national average in 1998, it has narrowed at a slower rate (with virtually no change from 2008 to 2018) and is now the national widest, at 13.7 per cent. Also according to the ONS, the gender pay gap (median) for all employees in the private sector decreased from 24.5 per cent in 2016 to 23.8 per cent in 2018 whereas, in the public sector during the same period, it increased from 18.2 to 19 per cent. The Committee notes the Government’s declaration that it is committed to eliminating the gender pay gap completely. In this regard, it notes the information provided by the Government that voluntary, private and public employers with 250 or more employees are required by regulations to publish their data relating to their gender pay gap and gender bonus gap since April 2018. According to the Government, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has the appropriate enforcement powers if any large employer fails to comply with this obligation. It adds that, while it is not mandatory for employers to produce an action plan to tackle their gender pay gap, the non-statutory guidance strongly encourages them to do this on a voluntary basis. It is confident that increasing transparency around the differences in pay between women and men will encourage employers to scrutinize their own recruitment, remuneration, reward and staff development practices and ensure that steps are taken to close any identified pay gaps. The Government adds that it has adopted a package of measures to modernize workplaces and support the progression of women across all economic sectors, including by: (i) extending the right to ask for flexible working arrangements; (ii) introducing shared parental leave and pay in December 2014; (iii) announcing a funding of one billion pounds a year by 2019–20 for free childcare places and introducing tax-free childcare; (iv) supporting a business-led approach to developing the “female talent pipeline”; (v) announcing a fund of £5 million to increase the number of programmes supporting people returning to work after a career break in the public and private sectors; and (vi) supporting female entrepreneurs to start up and grow their business. In its observations, the TUC states that, due to the threshold of 250 employees for the gender pay gap reporting obligation, only one per cent of companies and 40 per cent of employees are covered, whereas a threshold of 150 employees would ensure a greater coverage and bring the reporting in line with that required by the Public Sector Equality Duty. The TUC also observes that the duty to report does not entail any obligation to adopt an action plan in order to reduce gender pay disparity nor is there any requirement to remedy identified gaps. In addition, according to the TUC, the legislation does not make provision for fines or any other sanction in the event of companies failing to comply with its reporting obligation. It adds that, in practice, very few couples took advantage of the shared parental leave (8,700 couples out of 285,000 potential beneficiaries announced by the Government that is 3.1 per cent). It considers that better support for fathers taking shared parental leave, supplemented by much stronger support for dedicated paternity leave, is necessary to increase the uptake of such leave which could change the established culture regarding parental leave and start to reduce the pay penalty for women. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide detailed information on the evolution of the gender pay gap in the public and private sectors, on the implementation of the specific measures taken to reduce it and to address its underlying causes, and to continue to provide statistics on the prevalence of overtime, disaggregated by sex and sector of employment.

Public sector. The Committee requested the Government, in its previous comment, to provide information on any development concerning the amendment of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 as well as on any other specific measures adopted to reduce the existing gender pay gap in the public sector and to address its underlying causes. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that these Regulations were updated. The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 entered into force on 31 March 2017, requiring specified employers in the public sector with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap data by 30 March 2018. Although not compulsory, employers are strongly encouraged to include information on equality objectives connected to the gender pay gap in the data they publish. The Government states that it will closely monitor compliance and will maintain the dialogue with employers in the public sector to encourage them to take action. The Committee wishes to recall that paragraph 1(a) of the Equal Remuneration Recommendation, 1951 (No. 90), provides that appropriate action should be taken, after consultation of the workers’ organizations concerned, to “ensure” the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value to all employees of central government departments or agencies. The Committee also notes the observations of the TUC calling for governmental support to sectorial collective bargaining where pay is low and the number of women workers disproportionately high, such as social care, cleaning and catering (not only in the public sector). Recalling that, where the State is the employer or in a position to intervene in the wage-fixing process, it is obliged to ensure the application of the principle of the Convention and must take effective measures in order to accomplish real progress in attaining the Convention objective, the Committee asks the Government to provide information: (i) on the implementation of the obligation of employers in the public sector with more than 250 employees to provide their gender pay gap data and the results achieved; (ii) on any initiatives taken to raise awareness of employers in the public sector and encourage them to adopt action plans with specific equality objectives; and (iii) on any other specific measures adopted to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in the public sector and to address the underlying causes of the existing gender pay gap.

Private sector. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government: (i) to provide information on the number of enterprises that participate in the initiative “Think, Act, Report” (which encourages voluntary gender equality reporting) and on the number of enterprises that have published their gender pay gap in accordance with section 78 of the Equality Act 2010 as well as their bonus gap, and that have adopted specific measures to reduce them; and (ii) to indicate whether it is envisaged that the requirement to publish the gender pay gap might be extended to enterprises with fewer than 250 employees. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that nearly 300 employers, collectively employing over two million persons, signed up to support the “Think, Act, Report” voluntary initiative set up in 2010. It notes, however, that the Government does not indicate how many of them actually voluntarily published their gender pay gap and bonus gap and what actions were taken in order to address the issue. The Government indicates that the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, which entered into force on 6 April 2017, require employers with 250 or more employees to publish annual information on the gender pay gap by 4 April 2018 and that information is available online. It adds that any employer, whatever its size, can voluntarily publish its gender pay gap figures on the Government’s online reporting service. Finally, the Committee notes the Government’s indication regarding initiatives in Wales to support women’s career advancement and reduce gender pay inequalities, such as the “Agile Nation 2” operation; the “Women Adding Value to the Economy” (WAVE) project; and the “Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)” working group and board. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the gender pay gap reporting and its impact in reducing gender pay inequalities in the private sector as well as on any measures taken to promote vigorously the principles of the Convention with employers in the private sector.

Article 3. Pay audits. Previously, the Committee requested the Government to evaluate the results achieved by the implementation of section 139A of the Equality Act 2010 and of the Equality Act 2010 (Equal Pay Audits) Regulations 2014 – which gives power to the employment tribunals to order that an employer undertake an equal pay audit in case of an equal pay breach – and to provide information thereon. It notes the Government’s statement to the effect that it is not aware that any such case has happened yet, probably due to the introduction of the above-mentioned regulations imposing gender pay gap reporting obligations. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any case of application of the provisions of section 139A of the Equality Act 2010 and of the Equality Act 2010 (Equal Pay Audits) Regulations 2014.

Article 4. Cooperation with social partners. Noting that the Government merely refers to the Business in the Community initiative – which is a business-led charity whose membership is composed of employers from private and public sectors – the Committee reiterates its request for information on any cooperation initiatives with social partners as well as any collective agreement that takes into account equal pay issues or promotes the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Enforcement. The Committee, in its previous comment, requested the Government to provide information on the results of the post-implementation review of the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees Order 2013 – which introduced a fee to issue proceedings in the employment tribunals, following which the number of discrimination claims had dropped drastically (from 31,389 in 2013–14 to 17,858 in 2015–16) – as well as on the decision of the Supreme Court on the issue. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Supreme Court found employment tribunals fees unlawful and quashed the Order. It further notes the Government’s statement that it is carefully considering this judgment before deciding how to proceed, taking into account access to justice, the cost of litigation and the manner in which tribunals are funded. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on any new development in that regard.