The UK Pay Transparency Regulations: apparent transparency without accountability?

Benedi Lahuerta, S., Rejchrt, P. and Patrick, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1288-3969 (2024) The UK Pay Transparency Regulations: apparent transparency without accountability? Legal Studies: The Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars, 44 (1). pp. 21-44. ISSN 1748-121X doi: 10.1017/lst.2023.12

Abstract/Summary

The UK enacted its first legal measure to address gender pay inequity, the Equal Pay Act 1970, more than 50 years ago. Yet, in 2021, the gender pay gap (GPG) still stood at 15.4%. Departing from the remedial and individual approach that characterises equal pay legislation, the 2017 Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations (the Regulations) require private and voluntary sector organisations with 250+ employees to annually publish pay data broken down by gender. The long-term aspiration of the Regulations is to contribute to closing the GPG within a generation. It is also hoped that they will encourage the public disclosure of pay data and changes in workplace policies to reduce organisational GPGs (immediate aims) and improve employers’ accountability (underlying aim). This paper considers whether the Regulations have what it takes to meet those immediate and underlying aims. Our assessment framework is built on the premise that for public disclosure to be useful and for employers to tackle the causes of the GPG, the information reported must be of sufficient quality, meaningful and relevant. The paper draws on both doctrinal analysis and empirical data reported by FTSE 100 Index companies to assess the Regulations and determine whether they hold the potential to meet those aims.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127427
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/lst.2023.12
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Law
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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