Five out of six UK companies fail to submit gender pay gap data

For the first time, employers in the UK are required to report the gap between what they pay their female and male employees. With one month to the deadline, only one-sixth of UK employers have submitted their data. 

This new regulation applies to employers with 250 or more staff – which is about 9,000 employers, according to the government. Research done by The Financial Times, however, found that this figure is a lot higher. 

Using company information published on Bureau van Dijk’s database, Fame, FT calculated that the number of companies expected to submit this data is closer to 13,500.

So, why are these figures drastically different?

The Government Equities Office, who manages the portal where the reports are filed, has admitted that it does not have a full list of which employers are required to submit their gender pay gap data. This means employers can avoid sending their report, and officials will not be able to identify them.

Who has sent in their reports?

As of Friday 2 March, only 1,442 employers had sent in their reports, a fifth of which were public sector employees.

Only 33 FTSE 100, 22 FTSE 250 and 153 FTSE 350 companies have reported their gender pay gaps so far. Their parent companies were identified using Fame.

What does the pay gap look like?

The scale of the gender pay gap in the UK economy varies between sectors, however, it’s clear from the reports submitted so far that it exists in all.

The top three sectors with the highest pay gap are:

• Construction, with a gap of 21%
• Education, with a gap of 20%
• Finance and Insurance, with a gap of 17.5%

And other pay gaps:

• FTSE 350 companies, with a gap of 12.6%
• Public sector, with a gap of 13.3%
• Private companies, with a gap of 7.3%

Fiona Hathorn, the chief executive of Women on Boards UK, said: 

“Over the coming few weeks we are likely to see some seriously shocking numbers from financial services and tech companies, which will demonstrate the full extent to which men are…being promoted faster and being recruited into the highest paid areas of the business.”

The full findings of the report are available on the FT’s website.