Following the introduction of mandatory gender pay gap reporting in 2017, the Law Society has produced guidance for the profession to capture the best practice that will help us set the right standards for the legal sector and build a clearer picture and way forward.
The guidance includes recommendations on how to incorporate partner remuneration into the data in a meaningful and comparable way.
This guidance is designed to provide recommendations to our members on how to fulfil their gender pay gap reporting requirements. However, it will be for individual firms to determine how to implement these recommendations.
Certain firms may decide that aspects of this guidance are not suitable to their own businesses, and that will be a judgement they will have to make independently.
The regulations only require firms with at least 250 employees to report their gender pay gap data. However, the Law Society encourages firms with fewer than 250 employees to report voluntarily where it is practicable to do so.
Firms with fewer than 250 employees that report will be featured on the government portal with a digital badge indicating that their report was voluntary.
The guidance makes a number of recommendations that go beyond the basic legal requirements. Below is a table outlining in full the basic reporting requirements and the additional recommendations that are made in the Law Society's guidance.
| Required by the regulations | Recommended by the Law Society | |
|---|---|---|
| Firms with at least 250 employees reporting | Yes | Yes |
| Firms with fewer than 250 employees reportin | Yes | |
| Include partner remuneration in the data | Yes | |
| Report gender pay gap in basic hourly pay | Yes | Yes |
| Report gender pay gap in full time equivalent (FTE) total compensation | Yes | |
| Report gender pay gap in bonuses | Yes | Yes |
| Report proportions of males and females receiving bonus payments | Yes | Yes |
| Report proportions on males and females in each pay quartile | Yes | Yes |
| Include data on all staff based in England, Scotland or Wales | Yes | Yes |
| Include data on all staff working in subsidiary entities in England, Scotland or Wales | Yes | |
| Publish a written statement on the accuracy of your calculations | Yes | Yes |
| Include a robust narrative report | Yes | |
| Include a detailed action plan | Yes | |
| Collect data on disability, ethnicity and sexuality pay gaps | Yes |
Read the guidance in full
Gender pay gap reporting: Setting the standard for the profession (PDF 222kb)