Clause 73
Equality Bill
11:45 am
Joe Benton (Bootle, Labour)
With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 23—Gender pay gap information (No.2)—
‘(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no less than every three years a designated employer shall publish information relating to the pay of its employees for the purpose of showing whether there are differences in the pay of male and female employees.
(2) The information relating to pay which a designated employer shall publish includes—
(a) the average hourly pay of male workers and the average hourly pay of female workers within its employment;
(b) in respect of each role within the organisation—
(i) the average pay awarded to workers engaged in the role;
(ii) the percentage of men and women engaged in that role;
(iii) the gap, if any, between the average hourly pay of male and female employees in that role; and
(iv) the average length of service of men and women engaged in that role;
(c) information identifying—
(i) any descriptions of activities carried out in the course of employment with the employer by any group of workers who are wholly or mainly women;
(ii) any descriptions of activities carried out in the course of employment with the employer by any group of workers who are wholly or mainly women;
(iii) the relative values of the descriptions of activities falling within sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii); and
(iv) in relating to descriptions of activities within sub-paragraphs (i) and (ii) which are judged to be of equal value to each other, the average hourly pay of male workers and average hourly pay of female workers carrying on those activities.
(3) For the purposes of this section, “pay” means the ordinary basic or minimum wage or salary and any other consideration, whether in cash or kind, which the worker receives directly or indirectly, in respect of his employment, from his employer and includes the cost to the employer of—
(a) any pensions contributions paid by the employer in respect of the worker,
(b) any bonus or other performance related or incentive payment, and
(c) any discretionary benefit granted to a worker in connection with his or her employment.
(4) The Secretary of State shall prescribe by regulations any further information which employers must publish pursuant to subsection (1), the form in which the information must be published, and the degree of publicity to be made.
(5) In make such regulations the Secretary of State shall adopt best practice for promoting awareness of the nature and causes of any pay gap between persons of different genders as set out by the International Labour Organisation from time to time.
(6) The Secretary of State shall consult with the Equality and Human Rights Commission as to how to ensure that the regulations shall contain best practice prior to the making of the first regulations and no less than every five years thereafter and shall amend the regulations as necessary to ensure that best practice is maintained.
(7) Where an employer fails to publish information in accordance with this section then an employer shall not be entitled to submit a material factor defence in accordance with section 64 in relation to any period for which they are in breach of their obligations under this section.
(8) Where the information published by an employer reveals that there is a difference in the average pay of men and women doing relevant types of work as set out in section 59, then in any proceedings to enforce a sex equality rule or a sex equality clause it shall be presumed that there is such a breach unless the employer can show a material factor defence.
(9) The regulations may make provision for a failure to comply with the regulations—
(a) to be an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale;
(b) to be enforced, otherwise than as an offence, by such means as is prescribed.
(10) The reference to a failure to comply with the regulations includes a reference to a failure by a person acting on behalf of an employer.
(11) An employer shall publish information pursuant to subsection (1) within one year of the coming into force of this Act.
(12) Where an employer (A) is able to determine the terms and conditions of employment as between another employer (B) and its employees, A shall publish the information that B would otherwise be required to publish in a way which is consolidated with the information for all other employees of A whose terms and conditions A may determine, and where A publishes consolidated information B shall not be in breach of this section if it does not publish any information.
(13) A designated employer means an employer who has more than 100 employees.’.