Firms encouraged to voluntarily report ethnicity pay data

As part of its ‘Inclusive Britain’ plan, the government has decided not to make ethnicity pay reporting mandatory.

Despite this, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is encouraging organisations to voluntarily report their ethnicity pay data.

Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, commented, “The government has missed an opportunity to tackle racial discrimination and inequality in the workplace by failing to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay reporting. Unfortunately, we know from previous schemes that a voluntary approach will not help drive the changes that are needed in many organisations.

“Diversity and inclusion strategies are increasingly a key focus for many organisations. However, it will be extremely hard to fully assess any impact and drive positive change without monitoring and reporting on data.

“Ethnicity pay reporting can highlight where inequalities exist in an organisation and consequently where to target changes to policies and practices.

“In the absence of legislation, the CIPD will work with the government to support the development of official guidance to try and maximise the adoption of voluntary ethnicity pay reporting. We will also support the new Inclusion at Work panel and the development and dissemination of evidence-based resources and training for employers to tackle bias and promote fairness at work.”

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