Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for 2019/20, meaning there was no expectation on employers to report their data. Although unconfirmed by the Government, gender pay gap reporting is expected to make a comeback this year 2021. With regards to your client wanting to know this will work, well ultimately, the law will work in the same way as it has done previously but the impact of the coronavirus will be felt. The ‘snapshot’ date that employers in the private sector will need to focus on is 5th April 2020, which came just after the first national lockdown was implemented in England and the Job Retention Scheme had first been rolled out UK-wide.
Normal rules on producing a report dictate that employees do not need to be included in the ‘reporting pool’ if they were not on full pay on the ‘snapshot’ date. This means that any member of staff who was furloughed, and who did not have their pay topped up to 100%, can be discounted from the report. The knock-on effect of this may see the reporting pool significantly reduced meaning that the results it produces may therefore show an increase, or decrease, in the gap that is not representative of reality. With this in mind, it is crucial that any report produced by your client is combined with a detailed explanation of the figures – if there is a substantial change, they should explain that this is as a result of the number of staff on furlough and/or the redundancies they have had to make due to coronavirus.
Another key issue to bear in mind is the need to have a least 250 members of staff in producing a report. Your client may have reduced their staffing numbers throughout 2020 and may therefore believe that they are no longer required to produce a report. However, it should be noted that the key date is 5th April 2020. If on that date they met the criteria to produce a report, they should do so. Again, a staffing reduction may have an impact on the report, so this should also be clearly explained.
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If you have a tax query, why not contact the Tax Advice Line on 0844 892 2470 to discuss it. Our team of experts have a wealth of experience and can also provide a written consultancy service by My VIP Tax Team, call 0844 892 0251 or vip@cronertaxwise.com to find out more.
