Government consults on ethnicity pay reporting

• Government consulting on a mandatory approach to ethnicity pay reporting

• Large employers set to report on ethnicity pay gap

• Race Disparity Audit highlighted discrepancies in ethnicity pay across the public sector

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) has published a consultation alongside the Race Disparity Unit which seeks views on ethnicity pay reporting by employers.

The consultations ask eleven questions on the following topics:

• what ethnicity pay information should be reported by employers to allow for meaningful action
• who should be expected to report
• next steps

The consultation explains how the government could support employers who may be required to publish ethnicity data and that a trial or phased approach may be adopted. The consultation closes on 11 January 2019.

The consultation follows the publication of a Race Disparity audit which was carried out last year which demonstrated significant differences in pay and promotion opportunities between white Britons and ethnic groups.

Aspire Comment

We have seen the introduction of various reporting obligations over recent years which have increased the administrative burden on employers and create potential HR issues for large UK employers. If the government introduces a reporting obligation on ethnicity data, it may increase transparency in UK businesses, but it will inevitably make yet another compliance and administration burden on employers.