In a cautionary statement to eligible UK employers, the equality watchdog said “the clock is ticking” for firms that have not yet disclosed the average pay for male and female employees, stressing failure to comply could result in firms being taken to court or slapped with an unlimited fine.
Companies with 250 employees or more are required by law to report their gender pay gap for the first time this year.
Public sector companies have until 30 March to comply, while businesses and charities have until 4 April.
Around 5,000 companies have yet to disclose the discrepancy between their average male and female pay, despite the deadline being 10 days away.
Out of the hundreds of investment firms that must comply with the new regulation, only around 20 have published their pay gap reports so far.
The equality watchdog said that it will contact employers who have failed to cooperate on 9 April, giving them 28 days to comply before an investigation takes place and an unlawful act notice is issued.
Firms that continue to evade the statutory requirement could ultimately face a summary conviction, an unlimited fine and be forced to publish the data under a court order.
“Employers with 250 or more staff still have time to report their gender pay gap,” said Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the EHRC.
But, she added: “The clock is ticking and with just 10 days to go, those who haven’t reported really are entering the last chance saloon. This is not optional; it is the law and we will be fully enforcing against all companies that do not report.”
Invesco Perpetual’s uncomfortable gap
The warning shot from the EHRC comes as Invesco Perpetual confirmed that its female employees earn 40% less than their male counterparts on an average hourly basis.
On average, men received 84% higher bonuses than women on average last year, which the asset manager said reflects the higher concentration of men currently in roles where payments like cash bonuses and sales incentives form a greater percentage of total compensation.
Invesco Perpetual is the latest asset manager to publish data on its gender pay gap for 2017. Roughly 20 fund groups have reported their pay gaps, including Hermes Investment Management, Standard Life Aberdeen, Baillie Gifford and Brewin Dolphin.
Commenting on the figures, Andrew Schlossberg, head of Invesco EMEA said: “We recognise that, like others in the investment management industry, we do have a gender pay gap – that is, a gap in the overall pay for men and women and this is something we are not comfortable with.”
As with other fund groups, he blamed the pay gap on the under-representation of women in sales, investment management and senior roles.
“It is only in the top pay quartile, where male employees make up 86% of the population, that we see a gender pay gap,” he said. “Within this top pay quartile, the investment management function is 93% male and the sales function is 86% male: these two functions represent almost half of the employees in the top pay quartile.”
However, he said that “Invesco is committed to improving diversity and inclusion in all areas of its business”, noting the firm’s involvement in the UK Women in Financial Services Voluntary Charter and programmes like Investment2020.
