Shortly before the general election, the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 was passed. This included a provision compelling the Government to make regulations under the Equality Act 2010 to require larger employers to publish information on whether there are differences in the pay of their male and female employees (the ‘gender pay gap’). The Government launched a consultation last year seeking views on the format and level of detail of the information that employers should be required to publish.

The Government has recently published its response to the consultation and published draft gender pay gap reporting regulations (the ‘Regulations’), which it will be consulting on until 11 March 2016. The Regulations will, in summary, apply to employers with at least 250 employees in Great Britain.

The Regulations require employers to publish the difference between mean and median pay for male and female employees. Employers will also need to calculate their pay quartiles based on their overall pay range, so they can also report on the number of men and women working across each quartile.  In respect of bonus payments, the Regulations stipulate that employers will need to publish the difference between the mean bonus payments made to male and female employees, as well as the proportion of male and female employees who receive a bonus.

At present, there are no enforcement measures in the Regulations. However, the Government has said that this will be reviewed in the couple of years following implementation. To highlight where the gap falls across the UK, it is expected that companies’ pay gaps will be ranked by sector, in a league table that will allow women to see where the gap is and is not being addressed.

Helpfully, the Government will be publishing supporting guidance later this year to assist employers in complying with the Regulations.

The Regulations are intended to come into force from 1 October 2016 and, if unchanged, employers will be required to have a snapshot of gender pay gap date prepared for 30 April 2017, will need to publish first gender pay reports by 30 April 2018 and annually thereafter.

Larger employers who have not done so already should start to consider how they will comply with their obligations under the Regulations - particularly given this may require the introduction of new systems or processes to analyse gender pay gaps - and whether they will be able to justify any gaps that are identified.