Government must reconsider dropping pilot on pay transparency
The NUJ’s Equality Council has supported the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee’s call for the government to go ahead with a project to reduce the gender pay gap.
Natasha Hirst, NUJ president said: “It's vital that the government keeps up the work on pay transparency or we'll fail to see genuine progress in tackling the gender pay gap and glass ceilings in women's careers.”
Find out more about the NUJ’s #ShowUstheMoney campaign for greater pay transparency and fairness in job interviews.
Caroline Nokes MP, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, said:
“The government had said it is ‘leading the way’ on a pay transparency pilot to help tackle the persistent gender pay gap in this country. It is disappointing to learn that two years after announcing the plans on International Women’s Day, not only has the minister for women and equalities failed to deliver the promised pilot, she is now abandoning those plans altogether.
“In 2022, the government noted that evidence supported the need for the pay transparency pilot, only a few weeks ago the minister for women and her officials told my committee of the importance of the pilot. We are now expected
to believe that not only is there not enough evidence to support the need for a pilot on pay transparency but that women being paid less than their male colleagues to perform the same role is not a clear unjust disparity. Rather than lead the way on reducing the gender pay gap and giving women a chance to break out of the cycle of low pay, the government has instead chosen to sit on its hands and do nothing. I urge the government to reconsider.”