Government advisor will push for compulsory equal pay audits

Government advisor Denise Kingsmill is expected to recommend that companies should be legally obliged to publish pay information in their annual reports.

Kingsmill, a lawyer, was appointed by the government in April to conduct an independent review of equality and fairness at work and will report back soon on her proposals for addressing unequal pay between men and women.

Kingsmill believes that companies should voluntarily conduct an annual survey of pay, so that comparisons can be made year on year between men and women doing similar jobs.

Although the government has said that it needs to address the issue of unequal pay between the sexes (women still earn around 18% less than men) it has backed away from the idea of any compulsion on employers to audit their pay systems.

Kingsmill's proposal would mean that company annual reports would include a statement on "human capital management". This would enable both sexes to see how they were faring in the workplace.