Equal Pay Day
Wednesday 20th November 2024 was marked as Equal Pay Day, a national campaign led by the Fawcett Society.
This day marks the point in the year when, based on the gender pay gap, women overall in the UK stop being paid compared to men.
Commenting on the Fawcett Society’s Equal Pay Day, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“Our economy isn’t working for women. At current rates of progress, it will still take 16 years to close the gender pay gap.
“This is why Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is so vital for women’s pay and equality.
“The Bill will require large employers to set out clear action plans on how they will close their gender pay gaps, rather than just report what they are.
“And we know women still take on the lion share of caring responsibilities – a key driver of the gender pay gap – so fixing care is critical to raising their pay.
“The Employment Rights Bill will also introduce a fair pay agreement in social care, to stop the race to the bottom on pay and conditions. This will help recruit and retain staff.”
The TUC claims many of the other policies in the Employment Rights Bill – which begins its committee stage on Monday 25th November 2024– will help close the gender pay gap by:
- Strengthening flexible working rights by introducing a day one right to work flexibly unless an employer can properly justify why this is not possible.
- Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts to help end the scourge of insecure work, which is particularly widespread in sectors like social care.
- Giving all employees day one rights on the job by scrapping qualifying time for basic rights, such as unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave.
- Extending redundancy and unfair dismissal protections for pregnant women and new parents.
Gender pay gap
The gender pay gap for full time employees is currently 7.0%, but more significantly it is 13.1% for all employees. At current rates of progress, the gap for all employees will not be closed until 2040
Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
The government has committed to bringing forward additional legislation to extend pay gap reporting and introduce provisions for dual discrimination.
For more information visit: https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/
PAYadvice.UK 21/11/2024