Call for businesses to be made to report pay gap

That's the message from regional law firm Trethowans, which has welcomed the calls from MPs this week to make more businesses report on the difference between what they pay men and women.

Currently, only businesses with 250 or more employees have to publicly disclose their gender pay gaps. But this week MPs have called for the net to be widened to include smaller employers with more than 50 employees.

Simon Rhodes, a senior partner at Trethowans, which has offices across Hampshire, said: '˜Many employers pay their staff fairly and equally, but many others don't. Gender pay reporting would do even more good if more businesses had to report on it.' 

Gender pay gap data published in April found gender pay gaps of more than 40 per cent were not uncommon in some sectors. It also found 78 per cent of organisations had gender pay gaps in favour of men.