With less than a month to go before the reporting deadline, a mere one in six UK employers have submitted their gender pay gap data to the government.
Public sector organisations with 250 or more staff will be required to report the difference in average pay between female and male employees by the end of March, while private companies and charities have until 4 April.
But as of 4 March, only 1,442 employers had reported their gender pay gap information. A fifth were public sector employers, whose median gender pay gap was 13.3%. Private companies have so far reported an average pay gap of 7.3%. These figures compare with a national average of 18.4% for full-time and part-time workers, and 9.1% if only full-time workers are included.
The UK government said it expects about 9,000 employers to be affected by the new regulations. But the Government Equalities Office, which is responsible for administering the government’s gender pay gap website, has still not compiled a definitive list - and the Financial Times has calculated the figure could be as high as 13,500.
So far, the industry with the largest gender pay gap is construction, where women’s salaries are an average of 21% less than men’s. The education sector is next, with a pay gap of 20%, followed by finance and insurance at 17.5%.
Fiona Hathorn, chief executive of networking organisation Women on Boards UK, said: "Over the coming few weeks, we are likely to see some seriously shocking numbers from financial services and tech companies, which will demonstrate the full extent to which men are...being promoted faster and being recruited into the highest paid areas of the business."
In terms of individual companies, Pearson Shared Services, a unit of publisher Pearson, has so far demonstrated the largest gender pay gap in the FTSE 100 at 60%, followed by advertiser J Walter Thompson at 45%. Barclays had the largest pay gap among the FTSE 100 banks at 43.5%.
Employers face 'unlimited' fines and criminal convictions if they fail to report.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
With less than a month to go before the reporting deadline, a mere one in six UK employers have submitted their gender pay gap data to the government.
Public sector organisations with 250 or more staff will be required to report the difference in average pay between female and male employees by the end of March, while private companies and charities have until 4 April.
But as of 4 March, only 1,442 employers had reported their gender pay gap information. A fifth were public sector employers, whose median gender pay gap was 13.3%. Private companies have so far reported an average pay gap of 7.3%. These figures compare with a national average of 18.4% for full-time and part-time workers, and 9.1% if only full-time workers are included.
The UK government said it expects about 9,000 employers to be affected by the new regulations. But the Government Equalities Office, which is responsible for administering the government’s gender pay gap website, has still not compiled a definitive list - and the Financial Times has calculated the figure could be as high as 13,500.
So far, the industry with the largest gender pay gap is construction, where women’s salaries are an average of 21% less than men’s. The education sector is next, with a pay gap of 20%, followed by finance and insurance at 17.5%.
Fiona Hathorn, chief executive of networking organisation Women on Boards UK, said: "Over the coming few weeks, we are likely to see some seriously shocking numbers from financial services and tech companies, which will demonstrate the full extent to which men are...being promoted faster and being recruited into the highest paid areas of the business."
In terms of individual companies, Pearson Shared Services, a unit of publisher Pearson, has so far demonstrated the largest gender pay gap in the FTSE 100 at 60%, followed by advertiser J Walter Thompson at 45%. Barclays had the largest pay gap among the FTSE 100 banks at 43.5%.
Employers face 'unlimited' fines and criminal convictions if they fail to report.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
