The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed in February 2021 that enforcement action against employers for failing to report their gender pay gap data for the last reporting year (2020/21) would be suspended for six months and so would not begin until 5 October 2021.

This additional six-month period is almost at an end and so, if they have not already done so, private sector employers with 250 or more staff must now submit their 2020/21 gender pay gap reports, using the snapshot date of 5 April 2020, by no later than 5 October 2021. Employees who were furloughed on reduced pay under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as at 5 April 2020 should not be included when calculating the hourly pay figures; where this gives a misleading impression, employers may want to explain this in a voluntary supporting narrative accompanying their report.