The Government has published its Equality Strategy. In ‘Equality Strategy – Building a Fairer Britain’, the Government has set out its new approach to equality built on two principles – equal treatment and equal opportunity.
The Government has published its Equality Strategy. In ‘Equality Strategy – Building a Fairer Britain’, the Government has set out its new approach to equality built on two principles – equal treatment and equal opportunity.
Under the strategy, the Government will develop a voluntary scheme for gender pay reporting for all private and voluntary sector businesses, and will bring the provision on positive action in recruitment and promotion in section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 into force. The Government Equalities Office will also become a unit of the Home Office rather than a stand-alone department in order to bring equality into the heart of Government and this change is likely to take effect from 1 April 2011.
The plans for voluntary reporting on the gender pay gap will be particularly aimed at businesses with 150 or more employees. The number of organisations releasing voluntary pay gap information, and the quality of that information, will be annually reviewed to assess whether the voluntary approach is successful or whether alternative approaches are required. This may include using the power to require private sector employers to mandatorily publish gender pay gap information in section 78 of the Equality Act 2010. In the meantime, section 78 will not be commenced, amended or repealed.
The voluntary positive action in recruitment and promotion provision in section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 will be brought into force in April 2011. This will give employers the option, when faced with two or more candidates of equal merit, to choose a candidate from a group that is under-represented in the workforce. Formal guidance for employers on section 159 will be published early next year. Positive discrimination remains illegal.
The strategy also states that the Government will:
- Promote transparency and good practice in the public sector. The new specific duties made to support the public sector Equality Duty will require large public bodies to be transparent about the make-up of their employees.
- Take strong action where there is evidence of discrimination, for example, against women on pay – the Government’s approach will shortly be set out in a consultation document.
- Improve careers advice for girls, women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and others who can be disadvantaged by occupational segregation.
- Work with business to promote more women on the boards of listed companies.
- Set a new aspiration that 50% of all new appointments to public boards will be women by the end of the current Parliament.
- Publish research which explores the barriers that employers face in establishing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender- friendly workplaces.
Finally, the strategy repeats the intention to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees, to consult on a new system of flexible parental leave and to phase out the default retirement age.
