The government has issued a final warning to businesses to report their gender pay gap by midnight as it emerged the Conservative party did not plan to file its own figures until a day after the deadline.

Amber Rudd, who is the minister for women and equalities as well as home secretary, said there was no excuse for businesses not to be transparent as the deadline on Wednesday approached and warned them that refusing to report was breaking the law.

Organisations of 250 or more employees have until just before midnight to meet their legal requirement to report their pay gap data to the government or face enforcement action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.



Quick Guide What is the gender pay gap, and what must UK companies report? Show What is the gender pay gap? The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women. The figure is expressed as a proportion of men’s earnings. According to the ONS, the gap between what UK male and female workers earn – based on median hourly earnings for all workers – was 17.9% in April 2018, down from 18.4% in April 2017. Data in 2018 showed that men were paid more than women in 7,795 out of 10,016 companies and public bodies in Britain. What is being published? All companies and some public sector bodies in Great Britain, except Northern Ireland, with more than 250 employees had to report their gender pay gap to the Government Equalities Office for the first time by by 4 April 2018. The second year of gender pay gap reports - and the first indicator of how public bodies and companies are performing - must be filed by April 2019 What’s the difference between the mean and the median figures? Commonly known as the average, the mean is calculated by adding up the wages of all employees and dividing that figure by the number of employees. The mean gender pay gap is the difference between mean male pay and mean female pay. The median gap is the difference between the employee in the middle of the range of male wages and the employee in the middle of the range of female wages. Typically the median is the more representative figure, because the mean can be skewed by a handful of highly paid employees. What will happen if companies don’t report? The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said that, while it would approach employers informally at first if they failed to publish figures by the deadline, businesses could ultimately face “unlimited fines and convictions”. However, information published following a freedom of information request by the Guardian showed that no companies have been fined to date despite hundreds failing to accurately file their gender pay gap figures on time.

The Conservative party employed fewer than 250 staff last year so it is under no obligation to publish its figures this year. But having decided to do so voluntarily, party insiders suggested it was strange to leave it until after the deadline.

One senior Tory MP said: “I’m pleased that the party is reporting its gender pay gap figures even when it doesn’t have to. It’s important that we’re seen to be leading from the front. But it’s a shame that we didn’t decide to do it a bit earlier.”

Theresa May has put narrowing the gender pay gap close to the centre of her domestic policy agenda. The UK is one of the first countries to require companies to publish their figures, with Ireland and Canada following suit.

The prime minister has much work to do to tackle the issue on her own doorstep. Data published by all Whitehall departments last December showed that some, such as the Department for Transport where female civil servants are paid almost 17% less than their male colleagues, have a long way to go.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph May said: “We will have established a baseline from which to hold [businesses] to account in the future. Shareholders and customers will expect to see improvements, and will be able to hold organisations to account if they fail to achieve them.” The prime minister also singled out the BBC for the pay gap between its highest paid men and women, and said the decision to publish the salaries of its top earners last July started a “major culture-change” for the corporation.

Businesses will have to update their figures every year. The government argues that greater transparency will increase awareness, encourage culture change and help close the gap for good within a generation.

Rudd said: “There is absolutely no excuse for businesses in the private sector not to be transparent about their gender pay gap before the deadline set down in law … Businesses should see reporting gender pay gap data as just the first step on the road to creating fairer and more equal workplaces across the UK. They should be putting action plans in place to break down the barriers to women’s progression in their organisations.

“Closing the gender pay gap also makes economic sense. Research shows that improving women’s participation in the labour market could add £150bn to the economy by 2025. That’s a number we cannot afford to ignore.”

Rudd’s party pointed out it was publishing its own data voluntarily and as such was not filing late. Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ), rather than the party as a whole, has published figures on its website which it plans to update on Thursday.

These show that female employees at CCHQ are paid 12.9% more than their male counterparts, bucking the national trend. The figures for the party nationally have not yet been made public.

A spokeswoman said: “As of 5 April 2017, we had less than 250 employees, meaning we did not have to report by April 2018 … We will nonetheless be reporting on Thursday, in support of transparency and our commitment to the issue of gender pay equality.”

Labour published its data last month, which revealed that female employees earned 4% less than their male counterparts. This compares with the national median average of 18% less.

Dawn Butler, the shadow equalities minister, said: “Once again the Tories talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. They legislate for large companies but won’t set an example themselves having not yet reported their own data. It calls into question what are they hiding.”

The Liberal Democrats have published party figures in the past but, with a smaller workforce than either of the two main parties, have not submitted data to the government.

Public sector organisations, including government departments, schools, universities and hospitals, must report by 30 March every year. This year 97% did so on time.



Action the EHRC can bring against companies who fail to comply with Wednesday’s midnight deadline include court orders and unlimited fines. To date 8,713 organisations out of a total 9,000 have reported their figures, with more submitting the data every hour.

Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI, said: “Firms have had plenty of warning and have no excuse for failing to submit their data accurately and on time. But businesses can’t close the gap by themselves. Many of the causes of the gender pay gap lie outside the workplace, and will require a partnership between companies and Government if we are to deliver long-term, lasting change.”