Women ‘forced to work for free’

TUC study shows difference in earnings

EMPLOYMENT: Women have spent the first two months of this year effectively working for free because of the gender pay gap, a new study has claimed.

According to analysis by the Trades Union Congress, average women employees spend 65 days of the year working for free because they lag behind their male colleagues on pay.

WOMEN HAVE spent the first two months of this year effectively working for free because of the gender pay gap, a new study has claimed.

According to analysis by the Trades Union Congress, average women employees spend 65 days of the year working for free because they lag behind their male colleagues on pay.

The TUC dubbed today Women’s Pay Day because of the 17.9 per cent difference in earnings between the two genders.

In Yorkshire and the Humber the gap is even wider, at 18.6 per cent, meaning women in the county effectively work for free until Friday, March 8.

The analysis coincides with the first day of the TUC’s annual women’s conference in London

Across the rest of the UK there are other regional variations, with the highest discrepancy of 20.3 per cent in the East of England and the lowest gap of 9.6 per cent in Northern Ireland.

The TUC suggests that regional differences in the gender pay gap are likely to be caused by the types of jobs and industries that are most common in that part of the UK.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The UK still has one of the worst gender pay gaps in Europe.

“Women effectively work for free for two months of the year and at current rates of progress it’ll take another 60 years for this gap to close.

“Making employers publish information on their gender pay gaps is a start, but it’s nowhere

near enough. Employers must be legally required to explain how they’ll tackle pay inequality at their workplaces and advertise jobs on a more flexible basis.

“Women in the UK will only start to get paid properly when part-time jobs are better-paid and jobs are flexible from day one, and we need higher wages in key sectors like social care.”

TUC Regional Secretary Bill Adams added: “Workplaces that recognise unions are more likely to have family-friendly policies and fair pay.

“So a good first step for women worried about their pay is to join a union.”

This comes as it emerged that around five in six employers in Britain have yet to publish their latest gender pay gap figures – with less than a month to go until the deadline.

Only 1,600 of an expected 10,000 organisations have reported their figures so far.

Among those yet to publish are most supermarket chains, local authorities and NHS trusts, plus almost all universities and police forces.

Those who have already reported include the majority of high street banks and all the main government departments.

Public sector employers must declare their gender pay gap by March 30, while the deadline for private and voluntary sector employers is April 4.

Penalties for missing the deadline include a court order and a possible unlimited fine.

This is the second year that all organisations with at least 250 employees are required by law to report their gender pay gap.

This year, employers must publish data based on a snapshot of their workforce on March 31, 2018 or April 5, 2018, private and voluntary.

Of the 991 organisations who have published a comparable gender pay gap for both this year and last year, 398, or 40 per cent, have reported an increase, 56 (six per cent) reported no change and 537 (54 per cent) reported a decrease.

Women effectively work for free for two months of the year. Frances O’Grady,

TUC General Secretary.