Ethnicity Pay Gap

There is a growing movement for ethnicity pay gap reporting to become mandatory. The government ran a consultation for employers that ended in January 2019. In October 2020 30 business leaders signed an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. In February 2021, the Women and Equalities Select Committee in its report Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact called for the government to publish proposals.

Capturing ethnicity data and publicising progress is the second call to action in Business in the Community’s (BITC) Race at Work Charter. Capturing data is important for establishing a baseline and measuring progress. It is a crucial step towards an organisation reporting on ethnicity pay differentials. Ethnicity pay gap reporting helps hold employers accountable for any disparities between different ethnic groups, draws attention to specific areas of concern, and drives a case for action to be taken to mitigate these imbalances.

Business in the Community (BITC) believes every employer must prioritise action on race. For more information on BITC’s framework for supporting employers with promoting racial equality in the workplace, visit the Business in the Community race campaign webpage.