Gender pay gap drive could lead to women being fired, says think-tank

The drive to publish gender pay gap statistics could backfire and see companies sack low-paid women, a leading think-tank has concluded.

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests the focus on pay-gap figures could result in firms “outsourcing” low-paid employees so they do not appear in the statistics.

Low-paid staff are often women, and reducing their number in order to make the figures look better would adversely affect the female workforce.

The report stated: “In many cases, it would be possible for an employer to reduce its pay gap by taking action that could be detrimental to women, such as outsourcing its low-paid work. The pay gap is a blunt instrument that should be interpreted with caution.”

Firms might also hire fewer female graduates to balance the figures and this should be discouraged, it added.

Firms with more than 250 employees had to publish pay-gap data by April 4. On Wednesday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that hundreds of companies faced enforcement action after failing to meet the deadline. Rebecca Hilsenrath, commission head, said: “We’ve always been clear we will enforce this with zero tolerance.”