Law Society welcomes new equal pay transparency

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill which has passed its third reading before the House of Lords will require businesses employing more than 250 people to publish the average difference between male and female pay.

Janet Hood, the Law Society of Scotland’s equality and diversity committee convener said: “This is a very welcome development.

“Equal pay laws were introduced in 1970, but nearly half a century later we still see women earning less than men, in some cases significantly less.

“In the legal sector we have seen huge progress on so many equality issues, and expect to see women overtake men in numbers as early as next year.

“However, a decade of research by the Law Society shows there is a still a large pay gap in the legal profession – with a 42 per cent difference at its worst.

“With increasing numbers of women entering the legal profession year on year, it is essential that we do what we can to ensure that opportunities remain for those who want to progress in their careers and that disparity in pay becomes a thing of the past.”

The Law Society of Scotland’s Equality and Diversity Strategy sets out 10 new equality standards for law firms, which includes publication of gender pay gap figures for firms of more than 150 staff.

Neil Stevenson, director of representation and professional support at the Law Society of Scotland, said: “We have recently published a new toolkit on equal pay which provides everything law firms need to carry out the work required by this new legislation.

“Our new equality standards, published in February this year, also contain a simple requirement to publish gender pay figures– and we were delighted at Scottish government support for this approach when they included our new standard on this within their current tendering exercise for external legal services.

“Our new framework and equality standards will help law firms be proactive and address any issues before the requirement to publish these figures is introduced. It will be important that firms work to ensure they comply with the new legislation, not least to ensure that they maintain the confidence of their employees and their clients.”

The Equality Strategy and 10 Equality Standards are published on the Law Society website.