Andy Burnham has been urged to implement a “basic common sense” rule after Labour promised to address the gender pay gap on Wednesday. Chancellor John Healey said he had heard calls for pay transparency on job adverts to help close the gender pay gap. Without providing details or a timetable, he promised the Government will “act soon” to ensure women are paid and promoted fairly. Penny East, chief executive at the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights, is eager to see the change enacted now.
She told the Express: “Publishing pay in job adverts is basic common sense; how much you’ll get paid is a fundamental part of any job – it is ridiculous we ask applicants to apply without knowing such a critical piece of information.
“The gender pay gap persists. Women’s work is often undervalued and underpaid, with women struggling to get paid fairly after time out due to caring responsibilities or due to poor workplace culture. Employers being more transparent about the pay they offer is one practical, low-effort way to tackle the pay gap, and ensure equal pay law is being followed.”
As of April this year, women in full-time work still earned 6.8% less than men, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) previously voiced support for the change. This week, it recommended that workers should also legally be entitled to know their colleagues’ salaries if they suspected staff were earning more for similar work. The UK’s human rights watchdog hoped it would help prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women.
Employers should also be banned from asking about current salary when making a job offer to stop a history of discrimination from continuing, it said. The Fawcett Society previously said this risked basing a salary on an individual’s perceived worth and negotiating skills, rather than their experience and performance.
Tania Goodman, partner and head of employment at Collyer Bristow, said it was a step forward in a programme of workplace reform. But she questioned how such changes will be implemented without infrastructure in place.
“New rights and obligations inevitably lead to greater scrutiny of workplace decisions and the potential for an increase in disputes and claims,” Goodman said. She believed the challenge for Labour is “ensuring that the systems responsible for enforcing those rights are properly resourced”.
The Express has contacted the Treasury for further details.
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