Regulations laid for more public authorities to publish equal pay information

17th January 2016

The Scottish Government has laid regulations to extend the requirement on public authorities to publish information on their gender pay gap and equal pay statements.

If enacted, public authorities with more than 20 employees will be required to disclose gender pay gap information and statements on equal pay.

Currently, the Scottish Government requires public authorities that have more than 150 employees to publish this information, whereas proposed UK wide regulations will only apply to public and private sector authorities with more than 250 employees.

Speaking at Unite Scotland's first ever policy conference, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that the regulations have been laid before Parliament, with the aim that they are approved before the end of session in March, as part of the First Minister's commitment to support equal pay and to challenge the gender pay gap.

The First Minister will say:In promoting good employment practices, I want the public sector to lead by example. If you take gender equality as an example, we are currently leading a 5050 by 2020 campaign to encourage the public , third and private sector companies to commit to gender equality in the boardroom. That’s part of a much broader commitment to boosting female employment and tackling gender segregation in careers and modern apprenticeships.

At the moment, over 90 per cent of public sector boards have now made a commitment to work towards gender balance on their boards by 2020. The gender pay gap has reduced in Scotland in recent years, but we know it remains a persistent problem. One way to challenge the gender pay gap is to shine a light on it and to force organisations to look at how they determine pay and who is paid what. Proposed UK wide regulations will see only organisations with more than 250 employees required to report on their gender pay gap. In the public sector in Scotland, organisations with more than 150 employees are required to make such statements.

However we believe that those requirements should be strengthened. That’s why on Friday, the government laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament. If approved, they will require all listed public authorities with more than 20 employees to report on their pay. The regulations go further than elsewhere in the UK and are a further recognition that the gender pay gap has no place in a modern and equal society. The Scottish Government, and the wider public sector, must lead by example in its elimination.

The key point in all of this is that progressive workplace practices are in an organisations own best interests. They enable as wide a talent pool as possible to contribute as fully as possible to a business’s success.