A leading North East business organisation has urged firms to re-instate gender pay reporting as fears grow that the pandemic has disproportionately affected women.
Mandatory reporting of gender pay was introduced in the 海角视频 in 2018, but because of the continuing impact of the Covid-19, the Equality and Human Rights Commission last year allowed firms to pause reporting their figures.
Now, however, the EHRC has now announced that employers have an additional six months after the current deadline to report their gender pay gap information - though a whole year of statistics will be lost because enforcement was suspended entirely for the 2019/20 reporting year.
The North East England Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the commission’s reinstatement of pay gap reporting, and is urging businesses to submit their data as early as possible to provide a clear picture of the impact of the pandemic on women’s salaries.
The Chamber said the gender pay figures form an important part of its campaign to support women in their careers and encourage them to become entrepreneurs.
As companies, organisations and individuals worldwide mark International Women’s Day today, - the 46th since being adopted by the United Nations – the Chamber's influential Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF), is launching projects to address key issues that can hold business women back, including lower pay.
Alix Bolton, of Northumbrian Water, chairs the forum.
She said: “There is huge potential for women on our region which, for a range of reasons, is not being unlocked. In the Forum we have some of the North East’ most inspirational businesspeople from all sectors, who are ensuring we do whatever we can, to make a difference.
Most Read
"The Chamber has worked hard to provide information on fantastic female role models for a number of years and this new campaign builds on that proud tradition.”
The forum is examining a number of areas, incuding flexible working and the future of the workplace.
Part of the work will be a report into what working life could be like post-Covid and what would be beneficial for women, with the results set to be published this month. The Chamber has also written to MP Liz Truss, Minister for Women and Equalities, calling for more focussed support for women following the pandemic.
Research is also being carried out to see how business support currently available for women, especially start up help, could be better aligned to their needs, while the Chamber is also looking at its own services to see if it could do more to encourage female entrepreneurship.
Ms Bolton continued: “The importance of the WLF’s work has been brought sharply into focus with the pandemic. Research has shown clearly how the impact is impacting on women in so many ways from taking the burden of childcare to having hours reduced due to businesses having to close.
"We have fairness and the need to close the socio-economic divide at the heart of what we do in the Forum. It is so important we do try to ensure all women are able to be the very best they can be.”
Separate pieces of research have shown that jobs in the top 20 female occupations have fallen by 40% over the past year as the coronavirus crisis disproportionately affected women, while nearly one in four women have suffered a fall in their income in the past 12 months.