CIPR responds to Government announcement on mandatory gender pay gap reporting
The Government has today announced new measures aimed at tackling the UK’s gender pay gap. The proposals, expected to come into force in October this year, will compel organisations employing over 250 employees to publish information on salaries and bonuses relating to male and female staff.
Employers affected by the regulations will be required to publish the mean and median figures of men’s and women’s salaries, as well as the number of men and women within each quartile of the organisation’s pay distribution. This information must be published annually on the company’s website.
Organisations will be required to gather information on gender pay from April 2017, with the first reports published 12 months later. Companies that fail to address their gender pay gap will be highlighted in new league tables.
The severity of the gender pay gap in public relations was first revealed by the CIPR’s State of the Profession research in 2013. Since then, the Institute has led the debate on gender pay in public relations and called for stronger legislation in the area in its 2015 Election Manifesto. Subsequent CIPR research put the salary gap at £12,591 in favour of men in PR; with further regression analysis revealing £8,483 of that amount was determined by gender alone.
The gender pay gap was also the subject of a recent CIPR-sponsored debate held at the House of Commons, at which attendees voted overwhelmingly to oppose the motion that the Government’s proposals would ‘end the pay gap in a generation’.
The gender pay gap is not a problem for women. It is not a problem for men. It is a problem for business and for wider society. Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction but the Government’s threshold of 250 employees means the vast majority of public relations professionals will be unaffected by the legislation.
Our research has revealed the gender pay gap is prevalent at senior level across small and medium sized businesses, which fall outside of these draft regulations. And whilst mandatory pay reporting is a positive move forward, reporting alone will not solve the issue.
We will continue to campaign passionately for gender pay parity and I urge all members to share their views with us on the draft regulations, so that we can keep the pressure up on government and businesses
- View the draft regulations (PDF format, opens in a new window)
- Share your views via email
- Find out more about the CIPR’s work on gender pay (web page)
Notes to editors
About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK and overseas. The CIPR is the largest membership organisation for PR practitioners outside of North America. By size of turnover and number of individually registered members, we are the leading representative body for the PR profession and industry in Europe.
The CIPR advances professionalism in public relations by making its members accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and the production of best practice and skills guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).