Call to reform ‘flawed’ gender pay gap process

Gender pay gap reporting is “great in principle but flawed in practice”, according to the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), which has unveiled ten recommendations to reform the system.

Its proposals aim to simplify the process, reduce possibilities to cheat the system, and generate clearer results to better assess firms’ progress.

These include using online gender pay calculators with built-in checks to question implausible entries and making it harder for employers to “game” the system by shrinking the pay gap through selective dismissals or outsourcing.

Jennifer Rogers, RSS vicepresident for external affairs, said: “We warmly welcomed the government’s original decision to introduce gender pay gap reporting. But we would urge it to go further and faster.

“I hope it will heed RSS’S recommendations and turn a system that’s great in principle into one that’s equally impressive in practice.”