16 August 2017
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has recommended 6 new ‘fair opportunities for all’ strategies to tackle gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps in the UK. These aim to break down barriers for women and disabled people.
Recommendations include changing the workplace culture, making well paid flexible jobs a priority and encouraging men and women to share childcare responsibilities. As well as pressing for flexible working to be encouraged in all jobs at all levels, the strategy also urges governments, their agencies and employers to:
- unlock the earning potential of education by addressing differences in subject and career choices, educational attainment and access to apprenticeships
- improve work opportunities for everyone, no matter who they are or where they live by investing in sector-specific training and regional enterprise
- encourage men and women to share childcare responsibilities by making paternity leave a more effective incentive and improving access to childcare—focusing on extra paternity leave pay to reduce the ‘motherhood penalty’ faced by many women after they have children
- increase diversity at all levels and in all sectors by encouraging employers to tackle bias in recruitment, promotion and pay and introducing a new national target for senior and executive management positions
- report on progress towards reducing pay gaps by extending reporting to ethnicity and disability and collecting annual statistics
- encouraging flexible working in all jobs at all levels
The recommendations can be viewed here
To discuss further please contact one of our BTO employment lawyers on 0141 221 8012.