Gender pay gap reporting deadline: Hefty fines and considerable reputational damage for firms that don’t comply, EHRC warns

'Any employer not complying needs to ask themselves tough questions,' says CEO of EHRC

Current figures calculate the nationwide gender pay gap at 18.4 per cent (Getty)

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has issued a last-minute stern warning to organisations that might not meet an early April deadline to publish their gender pay gaps, cautioning that failure to comply could lead to hefty fines and considerable reputational damage.

Public sector organisations employing at least 250 people have until 30 March to publish a breakdown of mean and median pay for women and men across pay quartiles. Private businesses and charities have until 4 April.

The EHRC said on Monday that it would write to any and all organisations that do not comply by 9 April. From then, organisations will be given 28 days to comply before an investigation takes place and an unlawful act notice is issued.

Failure to comply with the regulations will ultimately lead to an unlimited fine decided by the courts, the EHRC said.

“This legislation is in place to bring about better gender equality in the workplace and any employer not complying needs to ask themselves tough questions, rethink their priorities, be prepared for serious reputational damage, and be ready to face a very unhappy workforce,” said Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Current figures show that the nationwide gender pay gap is at 18.4 per cent, but many of the UK’s biggest publicly listed companies have admitted to much wider gaps.

Jemima Olchawski, head of policy and insight at the Fawcett Society, a women’s rights charity, said that the gender pay gap also represents a “productivity gap”.

“It’s bad for women who lose out on potential earnings and career opportunities but also bad for businesses who are failing to properly recruit, promote and reward women,” she said.

“Pay gap reporting is an opportunity to look at the data, understand the cause and nature of the gap in an organisation and develop a plan to close it,” she added.