UK gender pay gap reporting: who must report and by when

Large employers in the UK must publish their gender pay gap every year — the difference between the average pay of men and women across an organisation. It is a company-wide picture, not a measure of any single person's salary. Here is who has to report, by when, and what the published figures actually mean.

Who has to report their gender pay gap?

Any employer with 250 or more employees on its snapshot date must report. The government guidance states plainly that any employer with 250 or more employees on a specific date each year must report its gender pay gap data. Smaller employers may still report voluntarily. Reporting is required for every year the organisation has 250 or more employees on the snapshot date. The full rules are gathered in the GOV.UK reporting collection.

What are the reporting deadlines in the UK?

The deadline depends on the sector and is tied to a "snapshot date". Most public sector employers use a snapshot date of 31 March and must publish by 30 March the following year. Private, voluntary and other employers use a snapshot date of 5 April and must publish by 4 April. Missing the deadline is not an option: the guidance warns that it is against the law to fail to report your gender pay gap data by the deadline. You can read the full timing rules on GOV.UK.

What do the published figures mean?

Each employer calculates and publishes 6 figures: the hourly pay gap worked out two ways — as a mean (average) and as a median — the same two measures for bonus pay, the proportion of men and women who received a bonus, and how men and women are spread across four equally sized pay quarters (quartiles).

• Mean: add up the hourly pay of all men, divide by the number of men, do the same for women, and show the difference as a percentage of men's pay.
• Median: the middle point of the figures arranged in order. As the guidance puts it, "the median is the middle point of a range of numbers arranged in order".

A zero percentage would mean men and women are paid — and receive bonuses — equally.

Why the gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay

This is the key point. The government is explicit: "the gender pay gap is different from equal pay". Equal pay is covered by the Equality Act 2010, which requires employers to pay men and women the same for work of equal value. Paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work is unlawful. A gender pay gap, by contrast, can exist even where equal pay rules are fully met — often because more men hold senior, higher-paid roles. A large gap is a prompt to examine an organisation's structure, not automatic proof of illegal pay discrimination.

Where can the public see an employer's data?

Anyone can search and compare the figures for a specific company or sector, free of charge, on the government's gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk. You can also view every employer or download the whole dataset. ONLYWAY NEWS suggests looking at the trend over several years, not just the latest number — it shows more honestly whether an employer is closing its gap.