Employers must publish their gender pay gap data by 31 March (for the public sector) and 4 April (for the private sector). Around three-quarters of employers have yet to publish their data. For anyone still unsure about exactly what information they need to publish, here’s a reminder.

Data your organisation must publish

You must publish on your organisation’s public-facing website your:

• mean gender pay gap;
• median gender pay gap;
• mean bonus gender pay gap;
• median bonus gender pay gap;
• proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment; and
• proportion of males and females in each pay quartile.

The ‘written statement’

Alongside these figures, if your organisation is a business or charity it must also publish a ‘written statement’. This statement must confirm that the published information is accurate and be signed by an ‘appropriate person’.

The appropriate person will depend on the type of employer involved:

• for any corporate body other than a limited liability partnership, this will be a director (or equivalent);
• for a limited liability partnership, this will be a designated member;
• for a limited partnership, this will be a general partner;
• for any other kind of partnership, this will be a partner;
• for an unincorporated body of persons other than a partnership, this will be a member of the governing body or a senior officer; and
• for any other type of body, this will be the most senior employee.

When to publish the data and written statement

You must publish your data and written statement within a year of your organisation’s ‘snapshot date’.

For example, for businesses and charities, you must publish by 4 April each year. Public sector organisations must publish by 30 March each year.

It makes sense to publish your data and written statement at about the same time but there’s no rule about which to do first. There is no requirement for an employer to publish at the same time each year.

You must keep the information available online for at least three years. If you do not have a website, you should publish your figures on any intranet and/or parent company website and ensure that this information is brought to the attention of employees.

Putting gender pay gap data into context – adding a ‘supporting narrative’

Your organisation can also use the written statement to add a ‘supporting narrative’.

A gender pay gap doesn’t necessarily mean your organisation has acted inappropriately or discriminatorily. Adding a narrative helps anyone reading the statement to understand your organisation’s view of why a gender pay gap is present and what the organisation intends to do to close it.

More information is available here.