Defence and security technology company Ultra Electronics is among six organisations named by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for missing deadlines to report their 2023-2024 gender pay gap data.
Organisations that fail to provide this data are unable to reflect on existing pay gaps and are therefore also unable to spot where discrimination might be happening.
Organisations are required to publish their average difference in pay between men and women in their companies, and those that fail to publish their data receive a warning notice from the EHRC, threatening formal enforcement action. This can include enforceable action plans or investigations, if they are in breach of equality law. If organisations do not report, the EHRC has the power to seek a court order to impose an unlimited fine.
No penalties or fines have been issued to date, demonstrating the effectiveness of the steps the EHRC takes to ensure organisations provide this vital data without needing to use all the enforcement powers at its disposal.
Between April and May this year the EHRC sent warning and reminder notices to over 600 non-reporters that had missed their initial deadline, and since then almost all of those organisations have reported.
However, six still have not, with the full list of organisations that have failed to submit their gender pay gap data this year including:
- Alpenbest Limited, based in Essex
- Drug Development Solutions Limited, based in Cambridgeshire
- Apex Prime Care, based in Essex
- Norchem Healthcare Limited, based in Manchester
- Ultra Electronics Limited, based in London
- Care Quality Services, based in Essex
The total number of non-reporters is lower than in 2023 and 2022, showing the effectiveness of the EHRC’s current approach to enforcement.
The EHRC will now be writing to the chief executives of all the organisations named, to ask for their data to be reported as soon as possible, and remind them of the EHRC’s powers to conduct a legal investigation if they do not.
Private sector organisations across Britain and English public bodies with 250 or more employees are required by law to publish their gender pay gap information each year.
English public sector employers are required to provide their gender pay gap information by 30 March, with private and voluntary sector employers across Britain and some public sector bodies in England required to provide the information by 4 April.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said:
“Companies who report data on the pay gap between men and women have the tools needed to understand and address pay inequality. Workplaces that take these steps attract staff, engage their employees and create productive and fair work environments.
“We’re disappointed to see that several organisations have failed to provide us with this important data, which they have a legal obligation to submit.
“As the equality regulator for Britain, we’re charged with enforcing the law. We will be writing to those who haven’t reported this year, and if needed, we will take appropriate enforcement action.”
Notes to editors
- Alongside the Chartered Management Institute, the EHRC published guidance to help organisations write their own action plan on closing the gender pay gap.
- In 2023 eight organisations failed to report their gender pay gap on time. Following EHRC action, these organisations have all now reported their pay gaps.
- The EHRC issues warning notices directly to organisations that report their gender pay gap data late. We also publish the names of those organisations which report their data late. Under this approach, every organisation has subsequently reported their data in the same year, or declared themselves out of scope of reporting regulations before we have needed to go through the courts to issue fines. This demonstrates it is an effective solution for ensuring companies continue to provide this vital data. There have been no penalties or fines issued to date.
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