London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 10, 2025

MPs attack ministers’ ‘nonsensical’ refusal to make firms reveal race pay gap

MPs attack ministers’ ‘nonsensical’ refusal to make firms reveal race pay gap

Tory chair of Commons committee says government lacks will to foster fairer society
A group of MPs has accused the government of lacking the “will or care” to create a fairer and more equal society, after it rejected calls to force companies to reveal the pay gap between white employees and others.

On Friday the government stated its intention to instead accept the recommendation of its controversial report on racial disparity, which was widely condemned by MPs, unions and equality campaigners as “divisive” and a missed opportunity for systematic change when it was published in March 2021.

In February, the cross-party women and equalities committee called for legislation to introduce mandatory reporting for companies with more than 250 employees, a requirement that has existed for the gender pay gap since 2017. It argued that mandatory reporting would help address pay disparities between employees from different ethnic backgrounds.

The government has backtracked on the issue of ethnicity reporting. In 2018 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched a consultation that stated: “The government believes it is time to move to mandatory ethnicity pay reporting.” The consultation closed in January 2019, but the government is yet to publish a response. The minister Paul Scully promised in January that the government would respond “in due course” – a commitment reiterated on Friday.

The government said it would not make companies report their ethnicity pay gap, arguing the move would have “significant statistical and data issues” – instead saying it would give guidance to employers reporting their ethnicity pay gaps voluntarily.

The guidance includes advice on reporting the distinction between different ethnic groups and advice for employers in regions with statistically low numbers of people from ethnic minorities. Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chair of the women and equalities committee, said systems and structures were already in place for mandatory reporting, and added that the government had already stated it would address the stated difficulties around reporting in its guidance.

“Introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for larger businesses would set the ball rolling, reducing inequalities between different ethnic groups,” she said.

“The government’s nonsensical response – which claims that gathering the necessary data would be too difficult, and then promptly outlines how this could easily be addressed – is disappointing. It makes clear that what is lacking in this administration is not resource or knowhow, but the will or care to foster a fairer and more equal society.”

In its response to the MPs, the government said it was accepting the recommendation made by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities that ethnicity pay gaps should continue to be reported on a voluntary basis.

Its response stated that the government did not want to “impose new reporting burdens on businesses”, adding: “Ethnicity pay gap reporting is just one type of tool to assist employers in creating a fairer workplace. It may not be the most appropriate tool for every type of employer seeking to ensure fairness in the workplace.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
×