PM urges small firms to help close gender pay gap
2 min read
The Prime Minister has called on more companies to report their gender pay gap and act to close it.
While there is a legal requirement for all employers with over 250 employees to publish their gender pay and bonus data by April 2018, Theresa May is encouraging smaller businesses to voluntarily publish their pay gap too.
Ms May said: “Already many of the UK’s top companies are leading the way in making sure everyone's contributions to the workplace are valued equally, and it is encouraging news that the gap has fallen this year for full-time workers.
"But the gender pay gap isn’t going to close on its own – we all need to be taking sustained action to make sure we address this.
ONS figures published this week show the UK’s gender pay gap rising marginally to 18.4% in 2017, but the gap for full-time workers falling to a record low of 9.1%.
Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said: “It is simply good business sense to recognise the enormous potential of women and to take action to nurture and progress female talent.
The move was criticised by TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, who said the Prime Minister needed to be tougher on businesses.
“This announcement is a damp squib that will have little impact. Companies should be forced to publish their pay gaps – not merely encouraged.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
