1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023

Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017

Who do the new obligations apply to?

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, with minor differences to the gender pay gap reporting regulations for the private and voluntary sectors, apply to a list of ‘specified public authorities’ found in schedule 2 of the regulations:

• this includes government departments, the armed forces, local authorities, NHS bodies, publicly funded schools, and many others
• they only apply if the authority has 250 or more employees on 31 March of a given year

Who counts as an employee?

For the purposes of gender pay reporting, the definition of who counts as an employee is set out in the regulations and follows the definition in the Equality Act 2010. This is known as an ‘extended’ definition which includes:

• employees (those with a contract of employment)
• workers and agency workers (those with a contract to do work or provide services)
• some self-employed people (where they have to personally perform the work)
• police officers and the armed forces

The relevant date

This is the key date that many of the details needed to carry out the calculations will come from. It is also the date from which an employer has a year to publish their gender pay report. This will always be 31 March for specified public authorities in any year where they have 250 or more employees (it’s 5 April for everyone else).

How does this fit in with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)?

The new gender pay gap obligations have been introduced alongside the existing requirements for specified public bodies, including publishing annual information to demonstrate compliance under the PSED and publishing equality objectives every four years. The deadlines for all the publishing requirements have now been streamlined to 30 March.

The gender pay gap reporting requirements must be adhered to, but a specified public authority can handle the process as part of their wider PSED work or equality strategy. For example, public authorities can set equality objectives which would help reduce the gender pay gap in their organisation. Organisations with over 150 employees may already be publishing gender pay gap data under the existing requirement to publish data on its employees. Organisations with over 250 employees must follow the methodology set out in the regulations and accompanying guidance, regardless of how this data may have been previously calculated. Other employers can prepare the calculations using the same methodology on a voluntary basis.

This guide only covers the new gender pay gap reporting requirements and does not explain in detail what is required to comply with the PSED. Further guidance on PSED reporting obligations is available on the ACAS website.

Other best practice references to support the development of a meaningful pay gap report include:

“Pay is one of the key factors affecting motivation and relationships at work. It is therefore important to develop pay arrangements that are right for the organisation and which reward employees fairly. Providing equal pay for equal work is central to the concept of rewarding people fairly for what they do.

Employers are responsible for providing equal pay and for ensuring that pay systems are transparent, or easy to understand. A structured pay system is more likely to provide equal pay and is easier to check than a system that relies primarily on managerial discretion.”

- Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

“However, equal pay is also good business practice. It is about treating people fairly and thus getting the best out of them. It is a necessity for any successful business or well-run organisation.”

- Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, Equal Pay Guide.