Ethnicity Pay Audit Letters

Conducting an ethnicity pay audit is not currently a legal requirement for companies, however the government is currently conducting a consultation on this issue.

Here are two sample letters to ask companies to complete an ethnicity pay audit based on the Equal Pay Letters produced by Close the Gap:

https://www.closethegap.org.uk/content/resources/bargaining-for-equal-pay.pdf

LETTER FROM AN INDIVIDUAL

Dear …………(Employer’s name), 

I would like to ask you about the pay systems within our company/organisation. 

As you may know, the Equal Pay Act gives women (or men) a right to equal pay for equal work. The recent #publishingpaidme trend on twitter has shown that not only does disparity in payment exist, but that it is often larger than expected. Therefore, I feel that the equal pay audit legislation needs to be expressly extended to include people from ethnic minorities. 

According to the Office for National Statistics, latest figures show that the percentage difference in median hourly pay between people of a White ethnicity and all those who belong to an ethnic minority group is largest in London at 21.7%. Whilst there are many different reasons for the pay gap, most people agree that the best way to check for discrepancies or discrimination in pay systems is to carry out an equal pay audit or review, and then devise an action plan to tackle discrimination. 

I would be interested to know if our company/organisation has carried out an ethnicity pay audit? If not, I would like to ask if COMPANY NAME would be prepared to carry out an ethnicity pay audit. 

Thank you for considering this request, and I look forward to hearing from you on this matter. 

Yours sincerely, 

Employee NAME.

COLLECTIVE LETTER FROM A TRADE UNION BRANCH TO A SMALL OR MEDIUM SIZED EMPLOYER 

Dear …………(Employer’s name), 

As you may know, the Equal Pay Act gives women (or men) a right to equal pay for equal work. The recent #publishingpaidme trend on twitter has shown that not only does disparity in payment exist, but that it is often larger than expected. Therefore, I feel that the equal pay audit legislation needs to be expressly extended to include people from ethnic minorities. 

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, show that the percentage difference in median hourly pay between people of a White ethnicity and all those who belong to an ethnic minority group, nationally stands at around 8%. This percentage is largest in London at 21.7%. This pay discrimination can be bad for business, bad for staff morale and bad for the public image of the company.

There are different reasons for the existence of an ethnicity pay gap, but most people agree that the best way to check for discrepancies or discrimination in pay systems is to carry out an ethnicity pay audit or review, and then devise an action plan to tackle discrimination. 

The trade union is very interested in sitting down with management to discuss the issue in more detail. In particular we would like to talk to you about carrying out an ethnicity pay review of all staff within our company/organisation. 

The trade union believes it would be in the interests of both the organisation and its staff to work together on this issue.

I trust that you will consider this request and look forward to discussing this with management at the earliest opportunity. 

Yours sincerely, 

Trade Union Representative