Summary
The law on equal pay in the UK is principally contained in the Equal Pay Act 1970, though this has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Subsequently the law was strengthened by the Equal Pay (Amendment) Regulations 1983 (SI 1983/1794) which introduced the concept of equal pay for work of equal value, and by the Employment Act 2002 which attempted to make equal pay claims easier.
The key legislation relating to equal pay in the UK is:
The principle of equal pay for equal work originated in Europe and can be found within Article 141 (formerly 119) of the Treaty of Rome. UK courts and tribunals should interpret the Equal Pay Act 1970 and other legislation in a way that is consistent with Article 141.
What employers must do
- Ensure that there is a systematic, fair and consistent way of measuring the relative value of jobs in the organisation, and that no groups in the workforce are directly or indirectly discriminated against in relation to pay, terms and conditions.
- Develop and publish a gender equality scheme, to be revised every three years.
- Produce and publish an annual progress report.
As a minimum, it is recommended that monitoring arrangements include:
- whether the organisation has fair promotion and development opportunities
- how occupational segregation can be tackled
- whether there are family friendly working arrangements
- whether the pay structure is fair between the sexes.
Implications
This gives an individual a right to the same contractual pay and benefits as a person of the opposite sex in the same employment. This applies where the man and the woman are doing: like work; work rated as equivalent under an analytical job evaluation study; or work that is proved to be of equal value.
Issues
It can be argued that women are indirectly discriminated against on pay because they take up a disproportionate number of part-time jobs compared with men. Legislation to equalise the terms and conditions between part-time and full-time jobs has reduced this effect.
In recent years the issue has been not so much about identifying and eradicating instances of unequal pay between male and female workers. It is more about establishing the equal value of work largely carried out by women, compared with work largely carried out by men.