Gender pay disclosure plans eased by coalition
Not forcing firms to disclose pay undermines attempts to reduce the gender pay gap, unions say
The government has altered plans set out by the previous Labour administration to force companies to disclose the differences in pay between the men and women they employ.
Labour had given firms until 2013, after which they would have come under pressure to publish pay details.
The coalition government has said firms will now only have to publish these details on a voluntary basis.
Employment unions criticised the Home Office's stance.
'Fairness test'
Under the government's new equality strategy, it will now only ask firms to publish pay data on a voluntary basis.
The Equality Act 2010 had included a clause allowing the government to force businesses to measure and publish gender pay data.
The Home Office told the BBC that this clause was not currently being implemented, but that it would monitor voluntary reporting to see what effect on gender pay it has.
"We want to move away from the arrogant notion that government knows best, to one where government empowers individuals, businesses and communities to make change happen," said Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone.
But unions said the measures were a backwards step.
"The government fails the fairness test and is stripping down its commitment to equality," said Dave Prentis, general secretary at Unison.
"It is a disgrace that women are still getting paid less than men. This move threatens to turn the clock back on all the progress already made with equal pay."
At the beginning of October, the new Equality Act came into force in England, Wales and Scotland, with new rules aimed at banning discrimination by employers, covering areas such as age, disability and pay.
Some business groups criticised the legislation for putting a heavy burden on employers.
And observers say the decision not to force companies to disclose pay suggests the government has listened to such groups.
"This is bound to limit the overall rate at which pay inequalities are addressed in the UK," said Matt Tom, employment partner at Candey LLP.
"Rather than take all effective steps to address pay inequality, it is clear that the government has given priority to the overall economic recovery, by reducing employers' administrative burdens."
The British  has scrapped plans by the previous government to change the rules on .
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone
The previous Labour government included a provision in the —Section 78—to allow the government the option to introduce regulations that would require companies to publish details of the difference in pay between male and female employees. If the government had activated such regulations, they would have come into force in 2013. The current government have decided not to activate this requirement and instead will only ask businesses to provide this data voluntarily and will set an "aspiration" to dramatically increase the number of women in senior positions in business.

, the Liberal Democrat MP and coalition Equalities Minister, in announcing the plans stated that the government wishes "to move away from the arrogant notion that government knows best, to one where government empowers individuals, businesses and communities to make change happen."

Featherstone announced the policy at the School of Management at , who have conducted research finding that only 12.5% of directors of FTSE 100 companies are women, up from 12.2% last year—"glacially slow" progress according to business commentator David Prosser.

Featherstone justified not implementing the pay audits due to the economic costs: "Right at this moment of financial peril to the nation is perhaps not the moment to introduce mandatory pay audits."

This breaks with a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment, as well as contradicting Featherstone's own words two years ago in support of the audit: "A voluntary audit system for private industry is hardly worth the paper it's printed on. We need to know when the government actually plans to step in if progress isn't made."

Women's groups and trade unions have condemned this move. Dave Prentis, the general secretary of , Britain's second largest trade union, said that this is an example of the government "stripping down its commitment to equality".

Prentis continued: "It is a disgrace that women are still getting paid less than men. This move threatens to turn the clock back on all the progress already made with equal pay."

Ceri Goddard, the chief executive of the feminist campaigning group the , condemned the plans: "The persistent gap in pay between men and women is one of the starkest examples of inequality in the UK today. The government's decision not to bring into force section 78 is a huge disappointment and means this injustice will continue for a long time to come. The government has today consigned another generation of women to lower pay. Their proposal to rely only on voluntary business action on pay isn't just naive, it sends a dangerous signal that tackling discrimination against women is a choice, not a requirement."

, Featherstone's shadow minister on the Labour benches, called the news "another broken promise from the government" and said that "scrapping Labour's plan to increase transparency in pay is a backwards step for women's equality."


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