THE GOVERNMENT’S decision to not mandate reporting of pay disparities affecting ethnic minority workers has been blasted as “embarrassing” by a leading campaigner.

Dianne Greyson, founder of the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign, hit back at the recent announcement which doubled down on efforts to make pay gap reporting a legal requirement following growing calls since monitoring the gender pay gap became mandatory in 2017.

In a report by the Department for Business and Trade, it said the government is determined to take steps to help employers address “unjust ethnic disparities” in the workplace.

Although the report recognised that disparities emerge from complex reasons, it concluded that not all inequalities are due to discrimination and would not “take forward” measures to legalise how Black and ethnic minority workers are being paid less by their employers compared to their White colleagues. 

“Key to this is gaining a good understanding of the particular issues which may be driving those disparities. Introducing an effective pay reporting system is one way to achieve that because it helps employers build an evidence base for relative pay across ethnic groups and identify unexplained gaps. But, employers need flexibility to do this well,” the report said. 

“Following the consultation and further work with employers, our ‘Inclusive Britain’ strategy and the publication of ethnicity pay reporting guidance, and other voluntary measures undertaken by employers, we do not believe that now is the right time to take forward a mandatory approach to ethnicity pay reporting.”

Recent figures show that Black working mothers are being worse hit by the “Motherhood Pay Penalty” in a double whammy of both gender and ethnicity inequality. 

Women with two children are taking home 26% less income than women without children, according to the Fawcett Society. 

The impact of part-time work, which persists throughout a woman’s career, means by the time their first child is twenty-years-old mothers will have, on average, spent ten years less in full-time work than non-mothers, while seeing no real surge in their wages. 

In March, The Voice reported there are just over 888,000 employees who are employed by companies that publish their ethnicity pay gap which is less than 3% of the entire UK workforce. 

Statistics published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and analysed by Labour, found that Black Caribbean women were found to earn 18% less than men. 

Followed by Black African women who earned 26% less than their male counterparts.

The government’s report said that a single reporting model may not work for all employers and that a {one-size fits all” approach to action-planning will not be appropriate in all circumstances. 

It added: “This consultation highlighted genuine difficulties in designing a methodology for ethnicity pay reporting, with mixed views on the best metric to use. It is therefore clear that it is not appropriate for the government to mandate a particular methodology. 

“Following on from this consultation, the government continued to meet with businesses and representative organisations to understand the barriers to undertaking ethnicity pay reporting.”

Speaking to The Voice, Greyson said she was left “disappointed” by the government’s response to ongoing inequality in UK workforces during the cost of living crisis. 

“Saying it is not the right time is offensive, there is enough data to show that Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities are being financially crippled because of the Ethnicity Pay Gap,” she said.

“The austerity that we are currently facing is further causing harm to Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities who need the Ethnicity Pay Gap to be mandatory so organisations work towards closing the gap.”

The campaigner went on to slam the decision as “embarrassing” and accused the government report of trying to “hoodwink” supporters of closing the ethnicity pay gap in concluding that they are unable to make a difference. 

At a recent meeting at the House of Commons, she claimed it was agreed that organisations have a “moral duty” to take action and is a business imperative for BME workers. 

She added: “We all know that there are challenges for organisations to report, but there are remedies to these challenges. 

“The government need to start bringing the voices of the people into their discussions, not just the organisations.  Those who the Ethnicity Pay Gap affects will tell you, it is past time for action.”

Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary, said: “There is clear evidence that structural racism plays a big role in determining Black workers’ pay and career prospects. That’s not right. 

“Ministers pledged to address this inequality and racism in the labour market. But once again they’ve backed down on their promises. 

“Today’s announcement is another huge let down for BME workers. 

“Three in four employers who replied to this consultation and the Women and Equalities select committee agree that mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting should be in place. 

“It seems the only ones who don’t want to make employers accountable for paying BME workers fairly is this Tory government.”