The UK government has published the final draft of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, which are set to come into force in April 2017 and which will see larger employers reporting on their gender pay gap, explains Katy Wedderburn.

The final draft of the regulations clarify some of the issues raised with the earlier draft, published in February 2016.

For example, the explanatory notes say that that a relevant employee includes someone employed under a contract of employment, a contract of apprenticeship or a contract personally to do work, so potentially is far reaching. It excludes partners and LLP members from the definition. Data reported should be for “full-pay relevant employees” (thereby removing data relative to those on sick, or other (for example, family) leave from the company).

There is also clarification as to what is included in pay, in terms of allowance and shift pay (shift allowances and premiums are in); and overtime (which is still out); and a clearer definition of bonus pay and when it is to be taken into account.

There is helpful detail about how the quartile bands are to be calculated.

So where are we now?

The Regulations apply to employers who employ at least 250 employees on the 5th of April each year, with these employers obliged to publish their report no later than the 4th of April the following year. The first report, for relevant employers, is therefore due no later than the 4th of April 2018.

To briefly summarise, the report must include:

Enforcement

The explanatory notes tell us that failure to comply with an obligation imposed by these Regulations is an “unlawful act” within the meaning of section 34 of the Equality Act 2006 which empowers the Equality and Human Rights Commission to take enforcement action. It is also thought that the Government intends for a “naming and shaming” approach to employers who do not comply.

The draft regulations can be read in full here.