The role of equal pay auditing in resolving unequal pay: More hindrance than help?

The introduction of the Equal Pay Act 1970 in Great Britain had an immediate effect on the incidence of unequal pay for equal work. 50 years on however, unequal pay remains an intractable issue, partly due to a pervasive culture of pay secrecy that prevents women from discovering potential instances of pay discrimination. A wide range of regulatory measures under the banner of “pay transparency” are often proposed to combat this problem. One such measure is equal pay auditing. This chapter examines the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) recommended method for conducting voluntary equal pay audits. The EHRC tells employers that this method will establish whether their organisation is compliant with the Equality Act 2010. However, this chapter argues that there is a disconnect between the EHRC’s method and equal pay law, which prevents employers who conduct an audit from identifying individual cases of unequal pay for equal work. Given this disconnect, this chapter argues that the EHRC’s auditing method may be counterproductive, as it may mislead employers and employees about the existence of discriminatory pay.