Reporting of UK companies’ gender pay gaps tumbles in pandemic

The number of UK organisations reporting on their gender pay gap has halved during the past year, sparking warnings that coronavirus could “set back women’s equality by a generation”. The average pay gap increased from 11.9 per cent to 12.9 per cent in the year to April, according to Financial Times analysis of government figures — but only half of the 10,000 eligible UK employers submitted data to the government in the period. The UK government removed the requirement for companies to report their pay gaps this year at the onset of the coronavirus crisis in March in an attempt to help companies that were struggling to cope.