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Preventing issues

By law, men and women must get equal pay for doing 'equal work'. This is work that equal pay law classes as the same, similar, equivalent or of equal value.

Equal pay law applies to both:

pay
contractual terms and conditions

Employers can prevent many equal pay issues by being clear and open with staff about pay and contractual terms and conditions.

To reduce the risk of unequal pay, it's good practice to:

have an equal pay policy
have up to date job descriptions that accurately describe the work that staff do
make sure that men and women who do the same work do not have different job titles
be consistent when deciding people's pay and contractual terms and conditions, for example have one pay structure for the organisation and limit who can decide on salaries for new staff

Find out more about:

Having an equal pay policy

An equal pay policy can help you be clear and open with staff about your policy on pay and other terms and conditions.

An equal pay policy should say how you:

will try to achieve equal pay
will check whether the policy is working
will deal with any complaints about equal pay
are committed to resolving any unequal pay issues in your workplace

The policy should be clear and easy for staff to understand. If your organisation has a trade union or employee representatives, you should agree the policy with them.

Find out how to make an equal pay policy on the EHRC website

Checking for equal pay issues

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recommends different ways of checking for equal pay issues. It depends on the size of your organisation.

If you have 50 or more staff

You can check for issues by doing an equal pay audit if you have 50 or more staff.

You can audit the whole organisation, or just one department to start with if it's the first one you've done. You should share the results with staff included in the audit.

To do an equal pay audit, you'll need to:

check if there are people doing 'equal work' (work that equal pay law classes as the same, similar, equivalent or of equal value)
carry out job evaluations, where needed, to measure the value of different jobs and identify any that count as 'equal work' – find out about job evaluations from EHRC
gather details on pay and contractual terms and conditions for people doing 'equal work' to see if there are any differences between men and women
if there are differences, check if these could be linked to sex – this can be a complex area so it's a good idea to get legal advice
decide on an action plan – for example, resolving any cases of unequal pay as soon as possible

If your organisation has a trade union or employee representatives, you should consult them when:

carrying out an equal pay audit
deciding how to resolve any cases of unequal pay

Find out how to do an equal pay audit on the EHRC website

If you have fewer than 50 staff

You can check for equal pay issues by doing an equal pay review if you have fewer than 50 staff. An equal pay review has fewer steps than an equal pay audit. You can choose to do an equal pay audit if you would prefer.

To do an equal pay review, you'll need to:

check if there are people doing 'equal work'
gather details on pay and contractual terms and conditions for people doing 'equal work' to see if there are any differences between men and women
decide on an action plan – for example, resolving any cases of unequal pay as soon as possible

You should share the results with staff included in the review.

Find out how to do an equal pay review on the EHRC website

Answering questions about equal pay and terms and conditions

If an employee or worker believes they've been discriminated against by not getting equal pay, they might send you an email or letter describing what happened and asking you some questions.

You should try to answer these questions as it might help to resolve the problem and avoid possible legal action.

Find out more about answering questions about equal pay and terms and conditions

Risk of legal action against you

If someone feels they are not getting equal pay, they might be able to make a claim to an employment tribunal for equal pay.

To make an equal pay claim, they must compare their pay and contractual terms and conditions against someone else. This person is called a 'comparator'. The comparator must be someone who is both:

the other sex
doing equal work for the same or an 'associated' employer

Employers are 'associated' if any of the following apply:

one of them has control over the other
both are controlled by another organisation – for example a parent company
a single organisation is able to set the terms and conditions for both

More than one comparator can be used. A comparator can be someone who is a current or former employee.

An employment tribunal judge will consider factors including:

whether the person making the claim is doing equal work, compared to a comparator
any differences in pay and contractual terms and conditions between the person making the claim and their comparators
if you followed the EHRC Statutory Code of Practice on equal pay, for example if you've checked for equal pay issues

If you lose an equal pay claim, you can be forced to carry out an equal pay audit and publish the results.

This does not apply to organisations that:

have fewer than 10 staff
were less than 1 year old when the equal pay complaint was made

If there is no comparator

If there is no comparator, the employee or worker might be able to make a claim for sex discrimination instead of equal pay.

They would need to show they would have received better pay if they were of the other sex.

Get more advice and support

If you need help with an equal pay issue you can:

You can also book Acas training on equality, diversity and inclusion.