Lawyers at Mason Hayes & Curran (MHC) have urged employers to familiarise themselves with new regulations on how they should report pay differences between men and women.

In a note on the firm’s website, the lawyers say that the regulations – published on 3 June – provide a number of useful definitions for employers who must report on gender-pay gaps.

The Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 will require organisations with more than 250 employees to report on pay differences between male and female workers in 2022.

The MHC lawyers say that the new regulations provide a framework for employers to calculate the gap in pay between males and females, and to publish reports outlining specified information about the gender-pay gap.

Calculations

They include definitions of terms such as ‘ordinary pay’, ‘hourly remuneration’, ‘bonus remuneration’ and ‘working hours’, which will be of use to employers in calculating the gender-pay gap.

According to the MHC lawyers, the regulations also set out a number of calculations that will serve as a guide to employers when compiling their reports – including for the calculation of the total number of working hours, mean hourly remuneration, median hourly remuneration, and bonus remuneration.

Under the new measures, employers must place their pay report on their website, or make it available in a physical form. It must remain on the website, or be physically available, for a period of three years from the date of publication.

The gender-pay report should contain a written statement in which the employer sets out its opinion on the reasons for any differences in pay between men and women. It should also outline the measures being taken to eliminate or reduce these differences.