The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) today urged small and medium-sized businesses to examine their pay systems to ensure they comply with equal pay laws and is to launch a guide to help them.

According to guidance published today, the process is relatively simple for a small organisation and should take no longer than four hours.  
 
While there are, of course, multiple causes of the pay gap, using this guidance to create fair transparent pay systems would be a good start in closing the gap. Although it is 40 years since the Equal Pay Act, women who work full-time are still paid on average 16% less per hour than men. This gap is wider in the private sector than in the public, at 22% compared with 15%.

David Frost, director general, BCC, said: "Businesses want to pay people fairly for the job that they do. This guidance should help smaller businesses analyse any pay gap and make any changes required by law.

"Taking action now to make pay systems transparent and fair should help businesses recruit the best talent to enable the private sector to drive economic recovery."