Businesses to report on gender pay gap from today

Gender - credit Fotolia

Businesses with over 250 employees must publish data on the pay gap between their male and female employees within the next year, after a new UK law has come into effect.

Around 9,000 employers across the UK will be required to publish the data under a scheme designed to narrow the gap between what men and women are paid in the UK, currently 18.1 per cent.

If employers fail to publish their median and mean gender pay gap figures by the April 2018 deadline, they will be contacted by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

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Employers will also have to publish the proportion of male and proportion of female employees that received a bonus during the year.

A report published in January by the Resolution Foundation found the pay gap has halved to five per cent for women in their 20s, but there remained a sharp rise after the age of 30 as women were more affected by having children than men.

UK Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said: "Helping women to reach their full potential isn’t only the right thing to do, it makes good economic sense and is good for British business. I am proud that the UK is championing gender equality and now those employers that are leading the way will clearly stand out with these requirements."

In Scotland, the gender pay gap is lower at 5.6 per cent. An inquiry by the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee is due to report in June.