The Equality Act, Section 78 confers a power to make regulations requiring certain private and voluntary sector employers in Great Britain to publish information about the differences in pay between their male and female employees.
UK reporting requirements
Since 2017, the UK government has required public, private, and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees, to report annually on their gender pay gap.
Who needs to report?
Applicability testing must be carried out annually on the following snapshot dates to determine which employers count more than 250 employees:
- March 31 each year for most public authority employers
- April 5 each year for private, voluntary and all other public authority employers
What to report?
The report is a comparison of the median or average pay of women versus the median or average pay of men across your organization. The UK law requires this to be expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings (example: “women earn 10% less than men”).
UK employers must submit pay gap percentage calculations and data to the UK’s Gender Pay Gap Service, along with a link to your public statement. Employers are required to calculate six metrics measuring the difference in compensation by gender:
- Percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter
- Mean gender pay gap of hourly pay
- Median gender pay gap of hourly pay
- Percentage of men and women receiving bonus pay
- Mean gender pay gap of bonus pay
- Median gender pay gap of bonus pay
Optional information
The UK government encourages all employers to include an accompanying narrative to add contact to any pay gaps, together with an action plan setting out what steps will be taken. Neither the narrative or action plan are mandatory. All organizations may voluntarily submit ethnicity pay gap data as well.
Where and when to report?
Relevant employers must report on the pay gap calculations detailed above:
Regulatory filing
File gender pay gap calculations to the Government Equalities Office platform, which is referred to as the ‘Gender Pay Gap Service’.
External posting
Publish the gender pay gap report and written statement in a prominent place on your website.
Internal disclosure
Employees must be informed where they can find this information.
Deadlines and cadence
The gender pay gap report must be reported annually by the deadlines below:
- March 30, for most public authority employers
- April 4, for private, voluntary and all other public authority employers
UK pay transparency requirements
There are currently no requirements for salary and career progression disclosure in the UK.
However, since Jan. 1, 2020, large, listed UK companies have been legally required to disclose CEO pay ratios.
The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018 requires all publicly listed firms with more than 250 UK employees to publish the ratio between the total remuneration of their CEOs and the full-time equivalent remuneration of their UK employees on the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile.
Unlike gender pay gap reporting, organizations are required to publish a supporting narrative to explain:
- The reasons for any year-on-year rises or reductions in ratios.
- If they believe the median ratio is consistent with the organization’s wider policies on pay, reward, and progressio
- Which of the three available options it used to calculate the ratio, and why.
The data and narrative must be published in the company’s annual report.
Employment equity standards
The UK Equality Act 2010 requires employers to pay men and women the same for work of equal value. The law applies to employees, workers, apprentices, agency workers, full-time, part-time, or temporary contracts, and self-employed people.
The risks of non-compliance
Companies that fail to comply with gender pay gap reporting may face civil enforcement procedures by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Failure to comply with a statutory compliance notice may result in a court order and unlimited fines if convicted.
Additionally, employers may be subject to reputational risk and subsequent adverse effects on staff recruitment and retention.
Can Trusaic assist with UK gender pay gap reporting compliance?
At Trusaic, we provide employers in the UK and around the world with solutions to comply confidently with evolving pay equity and pay transparency requirements.
Our Pay Equity Software Suite enables compliant pay systems, ensures gender-neutral job evaluations, and automates complex reporting obligations to keep your organization one step ahead of enforcement.
- PayParity® analyzes base pay and all complementary or variable components using legally defensible, regression-based analysis, helping employers build audit-ready pay equity documentation ahead of potential mandatory review requirements.
- Remediation Optimization Spend Analysis (R.O.S.A.) works as PayParity’s remediation engine, identifying the most cost-effective way to close unexplained pay gaps.
- Salary Range Finder® helps employers build equitable, transparent salary ranges — positioning organizations ahead of a potential statutory requirement to disclose pay information in job adverts.
- Pay Decisions: Generate fair, competitive offers instantly from Workday.
- Regulatory and Pay Transparency Reporting™ captures pay equity findings and generates compliant reports across jurisdictions.
Trusaic supports organizations navigating an increasingly complex global patchwork of pay equity and pay transparency requirements, helping employers build a defensible, sustainable pay equity framework wherever they operate.