Gender Pay Gap – Consultations Begin Ahead of Introduction

By Sam Thomas | 22nd August 2016 | 2 min read

The Government Equalities Office has begun consultations to gather views and opinions ahead of October's changes to Gender Pay Reporting in England.

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The changes, which will affect public sector employers, are due to come into force in October 2016 and are intended to result in better transparency for around 3.8 million employees.

XpertHR content director Mark Crail said: “The proposals do not contain any surprises for HR professionals who have been keeping an eye on what is happening in the private sector.

“But implementing them will mean that most public-sector bodies – or at least, those with 250 or more employees – need to go some way beyond their existing commitments under the current public-sector equality duty, and there will have to be some tidying up of reporting dates.

“It is also worth noting that the Regulations are not just about local authorities and NHS trusts. They will apply to schools and colleges, regulatory and advisory bodies such as ACAS and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and the BBC and Channel 4. The security services are just about the only part of the public sector to escape scrutiny.

“Finally, HR professionals in the public sector should be aware that, although there is no mechanism at all to force private-sector employers to comply with the Regulations, the EHRC will be able to apply to the courts for a compliance order against any public-sector body that fails to report its gender pay gap.”

The consultation deadline is September 30th and feedback can be given here.

How Does Your Payroll Software Hold-up?

Like the majority of legislative changes that affect payroll, gender pay reporting will be handled mostly within your payroll software. This follows a familiar pattern set by RTI, automatic enrolment and holiday pay.

It’s because of this, that it’s important to have payroll software which remains compliant with regular updates. IRIS payroll software is regularly updated to help ensure compliance with the latest legislative changes, and gender pay reporting will be no different.

The industry-recognised Earnie range of payroll software provides sophisticated and flexible functionality for the complex payroll requirements of large businesses.

Why not book a free, no-obligation software demonstration of Earnie IQ to see how it can revolutionise your payroll? An IRIS payroll expert will discuss with you the individual requires you need from payroll software and highlight how Earnie software can help.

You can book your software demonstration for a time and date that suits you by clicking on the blue button at the top or bottom of this blog.

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