Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting

IMI reporter, Sue Wen, covers the breaking news that a report into the ethnicity pay gap is underway. Watch the moment the news broke, and read on for more details.

Creating and encouraging an inclusive, fairer future is all part of IMI’s aim: to build a better world.

But we’ll never realise that vision as long as an ethnicity pay gap exists.

What is an ethnicity pay gap, and does it exist in England and Wales?

If you watch IMI News, you may already know we're talking about. The most recent report from the Office for National Statistic (ONS), suggested that the national ethnicity pay gap – that’s the average difference between the salaries of white and ethnic minorities in employment in England and Wales – had narrowed to the smallest level since 2012.

There's been a stark improvement regarding equal pay since then. But there's still a long way to go: some minority ethnic groups continue to earn a significantly lower hourly wage than employees of other ethnic backgrounds.

An ethnic pay gap is the average difference between the salaries of white and ethnic minorities in employment in England and Wales.

The ONS report also found that:

• The national ethnicity pay gap is larger for employees over the age of 30 as opposed to people between 16-29.
• The national ethnicity pay gap is larger for men than women.
• The national ethnicity pay gap changes across different regions of England and Wales, and is largest in London.

To read the most recent ONS report on the ethnicity pay gap in England and Wales (taken in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic) click here.

So what do I need to do?

Our vision at IMI is to build a better world. Pay inequality is as real as the gender pay gap (which is something that IMI have already been investigating), and it’s something that we’re desperate to tackle. But a better world won’t – and can’t - get built overnight, and we can’t do it without your help.

That’s why, this December, we’ll be asking you to voluntarily disclose your ethnicity, so that we can conduct a detailed and comprehensive ethnicity pay report.

You’ll soon receive a form in the post, and it’ll look something like this:

We've made it really easy to voluntarily disclose your ethnicity.

All you’ll need to do is fill out the short form by ticking the box next to your ethnicity. Then, cut or tear the form off of the leaflet, stick it back in its pre-paid envelope and post it to us, and that’s the job done.

We said it was easy!

This is a completely voluntary task, and something that you shouldn’t feel pressured to do. However, by disclosing your ethnicity, we will be able to paint a far clearer picture of where we are, and what we need to do to ensure that you come to work in a fair, inclusive environment championed by equality.

In short, the data you provide will:

• help us to calculate an average difference between the pay for IMI employees from different ethnic backgrounds.
• inform and determine our next steps in tackling pay inequality.
• be held securely by Central HR and will only ever be used for equality reporting.

Let’s build a better world that embraces equality, together.

Ethnic pay gap Reporting