Government abandons plans for compulsory gender audits of pay

Plans to force businesses to disclose the pay gap between male and female employees in Britain have been abandoned by the coalition government, in a reversal of a Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge.

Instead, businesses will be expected to reduce the pay gap, which is one of the biggest in Europe, by voluntary means. This will be part of a new strategy under which the government department dedicated to equalities will lose its independence and be brought into the Home Office.

The decision was criticised by equalities campaigners, who called it a huge disappointment and accused the government of watering down an already weak proposal on tackling equal pay.

In an interview with the Guardian to unveil the strategy, equalities minister Lynne Featherstone explained her own change of heart on the issue by saying: “Right at this moment of financial peril to the nation is perhaps not the moment to introduce mandatory pay audits.”

Just two years ago, the Liberal Democrat MP backed mandatory measures, saying: “A voluntary audit system for private industry is hardly worth the paper it’s printed on. We need to know when the government actually plans to step in if progress isn’t made.”

The Liberal Democrat manifesto pledged to introduce fair-pay audits for all but the smallest companies.

Today Featherstone said: “It was a different world two years ago – financially and in terms of pressures on business. We are in a completely new landscape now … Much more of partnership working, no longer government dictates, this is absolutely the time to make voluntary pay-reporting work.”

Asked whether the U-turn compared with the government’s controversial decision to abandon the Lib Dems’ manifesto pledge on tuition fees, she said: “You can go back to everything pre-election and say, Liberal Democrats said this and Liberal Democrats said that. Of course, had we won the election there might be a slightly different angle on this. In coalition we agreed this is the way forward.”

For the full story, see the Guardian.