The requirement does not include companies in Northern Ireland. The information is to be reported to the Government Equalities Office, with the reporting date having taken effect April 4. Employers also need to disclose the proportion of men and women who get bonuses and a breakdown of their male and female employees' salaries per quarter.
Gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay per hour for men and women. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) notes that the gap between UK men and women full-time workers, based on median hourly wage, dropped to 9.1% in April last year from 9.4% in the prior year. The gap was as high as 17.4% in 1997, according to ONS.