This idea has been created by the Scrutinise team as a historical case study. It represents real legislation that reached the statute book through civil society advocacy. It is presented here to show how that process might have looked on Scrutinise.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting in the Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 included powers (activated via regulations in 2017) requiring employers with 250+ staff to publish their gender pay gap annually. The Fawcett Society campaigned for this for over two decades.
Summary
The Equality Act 2010 included powers (activated via regulations in 2017) requiring employers with 250+ staff to publish their gender pay gap annually. The Fawcett Society campaigned for this for over two decades.
Challenge (summary)
Women earn less than men across almost every sector, but without transparency requirements employers had no accountability for the gap and no incentive to act.
Approach (summary)
Mandatory pay gap reporting, publicly accessible, creating reputational pressure on employers and an evidence base for enforcement.
First step (summary)
Include a pay transparency regulation power in the Equality Bill, then activate it via statutory instrument requiring all employers of 250+ to publish mean and median gender pay gap data annually on a government portal.