The businesses behind estate agent Purplebricks, fashion retailer Jigsaw, and TV chef Rick Stein’s company are among ten organisations named by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for failing to publish their gender pay gap figures.
Seafood Trading Ltd, Strike Ltd and Robinson Webster (Holdings) Ltd were highlighted by the regulator as having missed the reporting deadline by several months. Healthy Retail Ltd, which operates the Pure health food brand, and Trocadero (London) Hotel Ltd, the operator of the Zedwell hotel chain, were also named.
Under legislation introduced in 2017, all organisations with 250 or more employees are legally required to publish annual figures on the average difference in pay between men and women in their workforce. The deadline is 4 April each year, except for most English public sector employers where the deadline falls on 30 March.
Failure to comply triggers a warning notice from the EHRC, with the threat of formal enforcement if data is not published. Enforcement can include legally binding action plans or investigations into whether a company is breaching equality law.
If an organisation continues to ignore its reporting obligations, the EHRC can apply to the courts for an order requiring compliance, with the possibility of unlimited fines for those that still fail to act.
The ten organisations that missed the 2024 reporting deadline are BCM Employment & Management Services Ltd, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd, Healthy Retail Ltd, L’Arche, N. Notaro Homes Ltd, Radish Food Services Group Ltd, Robinson Webster (Holdings) Ltd, Seafood Trading Ltd, Strike Ltd and Trocadero (London) Hotel Ltd.
The EHRC has written to the chief executives of the organisations concerned, urging them to submit their data.
John Kirkpatrick, EHRC chief executive, said: “In order to address potential pay inequality or discrimination, organisations must give themselves the tools to find out if it’s happening. Without tracking and reporting their gender pay gaps, they are unable to do so.
“We’re disappointed that ten organisations have failed to report their data and have written to them again to remind them of their legal obligations. If they fail to submit their data following this, we will take appropriate enforcement action.”
Charles Cotton, CIPD senior policy and practice adviser – pay and reward, said: “As well as falling foul of the law, failing to report gender pay gap data can have negative business consequences for large employers in terms of recruitment, sales, or investment. So, it’s important that organisations give pay gap reporting the attention it needs.”
