Equality Bill 2009 – Government U-Turn

Article by HR Consultant Bob Cox

The government and in particular Harriet Harman have been forced into a U-turn on one of the more controversial aspects of the Equality Bill which is due to come onto the statute books in March 2010. This action has been taken to try and ensure the Bill’s passage through Parliament before the general election next year.

A report in the Sunday Times on 13th December 2009 highlighted a change to the Equal Pay reporting regulations, until recently all Public Sector employers and all private sector employers with 250 or more employees would be require to report on pay differentials between male and female employees in a significant turn around it has now been decided that this clause will apply to those private sector employers with 500 or more employees; meaning that 97% of employers are now exempt from the reporting procedures.

This is good news you may think, but if you tender to the public sector for contracts you may well be required to comply with this aspect of the Bill no matter how many employees you have and to show that you do so as part of your tendering compliance.

But overall some commonsense prevails.

Of course if Gordon Brown decides to go to the country in March (as is being speculated) then the whole Equality Bill may not receive Royal Assent and both David Cameron’s Conservatives and Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat whilst supporting the overall principles of the Bill would like to see some changes before it becomes law.

We wait and see!!!!!

For further advice on how the Equality Bill could impact on Employment issues contact Bob Cox in our HR team at bob.cox@wardgoodman.co.uk or call him on 01202 875900

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