UK gender pay gap reporting is the legal obligation for employers with 250 or more employees to publish an annual snapshot of pay differences between men and women. The reporting deadline is 4 April each year for most employers (or 30 March for public-sector employers), using a snapshot date of 5 April (or 31 March for public sector). Failure to report triggers an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and potential court proceedings.
This guide covers who must report, how to calculate mean and median pay gaps, what to publish, the penalties for non-compliance, and how to turn the data into action.
Key takeaways
- Employers with 250 or more employees on the snapshot date must publish gender pay gap data annually, under The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
- The snapshot date is 5 April for private and voluntary-sector employers (31 March for public-sector).
- You must publish six calculations: mean and median hourly pay gaps, mean and median bonus gaps, and the proportion of men and women receiving bonuses.
- Use ordinary pay (basic pay, allowances, shift premiums, piece-rate) — not overtime, expenses, or benefits-in-kind.
- The deadline is 4 April (private) or 30 March (public) — upload results to a government website and your own company website.
- The EHRC can open a formal investigation and apply to the County Court for an order compelling compliance, with unlimited fines.
Who must report
The duty applies where the employer had 250 or more employees on the qualifying date — the last day of the employer’s chosen pay period ending on or before 5 April. The count includes all employees regardless of whether they are full-time, part-time, or on fixed-term contracts. Agency workers supplied by a third party are counted by the agency, not the client.
Group companies should be careful: the Regulations apply to each legal entity separately. If your group has 250 total employees but each subsidiary has fewer, none of the individual entities is required to report — although voluntary reporting is encouraged.
Counting employees
The count uses the definition in s.230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It includes:
| Included | Excluded |
|---|---|
| Full-time employees | Partners in a partnership |
| Part-time employees | Self-employed contractors |
| Fixed-term employees | Workers (gig-economy, zero-hours) on a services contract |
| Employees on maternity/paternity leave | |
| Employees on sick leave | |
| Employees on flexible working arrangements |
The six required calculations
You must publish three pairs of figures:
1. Hourly pay gap (mean and median)
The mean is the difference between average hourly pay for men and women. The median is the difference between the midpoints of men’s and women’s hourly pay.
2. Bonus gap (mean and median)
Bonuses include any pay related to profit-sharing, productivity, performance, incentive, or commission. Use the 12-month period ending on 5 April for the snapshot.
3. Proportion receiving bonuses
The percentage of male and female employees who received a bonus in the relevant 12-month period.
How to calculate hourly pay
Divide each employee’s ordinary pay by the number of hours in the relevant pay period. “Ordinary pay” is defined in regulation 3:
| Included in ordinary pay | Excluded |
|---|---|
| Basic pay | Overtime |
| Pay for annual leave | Expenses |
| Shift premiums | Benefits-in-kind |
| Piece-rate pay | Pay through a salary sacrifice scheme (for the monetary value) |
| Allowances (but not car allowances where they are a benefit-in-kind) |
Hours are calculated based on the employee’s contractual hours. Where hours vary, use the average over the 12-week period preceding the snapshot date.
Mean vs. median — which matters more
The mean gives weight to extreme earners. If your CEO is male and the lowest-paid worker is female, the mean gap will be large. The median gives the mid-point comparison and is less sensitive to outliers.
Neither number alone tells the full story. A company with a small pay gap overall but a glass ceiling problem (few women in senior roles) may show a modest mean gap but a very different story when the data is broken down by pay quartile.
Publishing requirements
You must publish the results on your own company website and upload them to a government-designated website (gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk).
The publication must include:
- A written statement of the figures, signed by a senior individual (director, partner, or equivalent).
- A link to the results that is accessible to the public.
- A narrative explaining any reasons the employer believes account for the figures and any actions being taken.
The written statement should explain, for example, why you might have a mean gap that is larger than your median (or vice versa), and what steps you are taking to address it.
Deadlines and penalties
| Private/Voluntary sector | Public sector | |
|---|---|---|
| Snapshot date | 5 April | 31 March |
| Reporting deadline | 4 April | 30 March |
| Reporting website | gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk | gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk |
Penalties for non-compliance: The EHRC has enforcement powers under Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006. It can:
- Issue a compliance notice requiring the employer to publish within 28 days.
- Apply to the County Court for an order compelling publication, with a fine for contempt of court.
- Publish the employer’s name as having failed to comply.
There is no automatic financial penalty for non-reporting in itself, but the reputational and legal costs of an EHRC investigation are significant.
Beyond the numbers — using the data
Reporting is not a box-ticking exercise. The data reveals where your organisation stands and where the gaps live. Common drivers include:
- Occupational segregation — more women in lower-paid roles, more men in senior roles.
- Part-time penalty — part-time roles (disproportionately held by women) pay less per hour.
- Bonus structure — commission-heavy bonus structures widen the bonus gap where sales leadership is male-dominated.
Employers who take the narrative seriously — explaining the gaps and publishing an action plan — see measurable improvements. The reporting process itself drives accountability.
Common mistakes
1. Including agency workers
Agency workers are the agency’s employees, not yours. Do not count them in your headcount or include them in your pay calculations.
2. Forgetting maternity leave
Employees on maternity leave are still employees on the snapshot date. If they received ordinary pay (including statutory maternity pay), they must be included in the calculations. Where an employee is on unpaid maternity leave, they are still counted in the headcount but excluded from the pay calculations if they received no pay in the snapshot period.
3. Using total pay instead of ordinary pay
Expenses, overtime, and benefits-in-kind should not be included. Using total pay inflates or distorts the figures and does not match the legal definition.
4. Missing the deadline
The 4 April deadline is fixed. If 4 April falls on a weekend or bank holiday, it moves to the next working day — but do not rely on this. Submit early.
Putting it into practice
Five steps to build gender pay gap reporting into your HR process:
- Capture the snapshot data automatically from payroll on 5 April — do not reconstruct it from records weeks later.
- Separate ordinary pay from overtime, expenses, and benefits-in-kind at the point of entry.
- Track hours accurately — contractual hours for full-time; averaged hours for variable schedules.
- Build a narrative template that updates each year so the explanation evolves alongside the data.
- Set targets and review annually — publish an action plan with the results and hold leadership accountable.
A leave management system that tracks hours, captures pay data accurately, and surfaces headcount changes by gender makes gender pay gap reporting less of a scramble and more of a strategic tool.
Sources
- The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 (primary source)
- EHRC Gender pay gap reporting guidance
- Equality Act 2006, Part 2 (enforcement powers)
- Employment Rights Act 1996, s.230 (employee definition)
This article is general information, not legal advice. Gender pay gap reporting thresholds and deadlines can change — confirm current requirements with the EHRC or ACAS.