THE TUC has called for bosses to be fined if they fail to comply with laws that aim to close the gender pay gap.
The deadline for companies with more than 250 workers to report their gender pay gap data passed today.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the gap was still a “huge issue.”
He said: “At current rates of progress, it will take more than 20 years to bring men and women’s pay into line,” he said.
“We cannot consign yet another generation of women to pay inequality.”
He said it was clear that just requiring companies to publish their gender pay gaps “isn’t working” and demanded that companies implement action plans to close their pay gaps.
Mr Nowak added that bosses who don’t comply with the law “should be fined.”
According to an analysis by the TUC, women work two months a year for free on average.
The average pay gap stands at 14.3 per cent, but widens in areas such as education (21.3 per cent), as well as finance and insurance (27.9 per cent).
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the gap between full-time employees increased to 7.7 per cent in 2023, from 7.6 per cent in 2022.
Today, US investment bank Goldman Sachs reported Britain’s biggest gender pay gap, standing at a staggering 54 per cent.
Mr Nowak said Labour’s New Deal for Working People, which would see the introduction of mandatory action plans to close gender pay gaps, would be “huge boost” for working women.
The deal promises to introduce fair pay agreements in social care, ban zero-hours contracts and give all workers the right to flexible work.
UNISON head of equality Josie Irwin said: “All too often women end up in low-paid, part-time, and insecure jobs. But they’re also more likely to have caring responsibilities and have little choice but fit work around family duties.
“Women are also penalised for taking time out to have children. They spend the rest of their careers trying to catch up.
“It’s no longer enough for employers to report gender pay gaps. They must be made to take action to close them.”
