The number of UK organisations reporting on their ethnicity pay gap has fallen by 50% in a year, research has revealed.
Data collated by HR insights firm HR DataHub showed that 64 organisations published this information in 2021, a decrease from 129 in 2020.
The number reporting on ethnicity and pay has fallen below the level seen before the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic – 98 organisations published these statistics in 2019, according to HR DataHub.
Its findings, derived from its Ethnicity pay gap database, also revealed that only four businesses have reported their ethnicity pay gap every year from 2018 to 2021.
Sector analysis highlighted that since 2018, hospitality and leisure (0.41%), manufacturing (0.41%) and energy and utilities (1.23%) have the lowest rate of reporting.
HR DataHub’s Outlook 2022 report found that 40% of businesses have no intention to disclose their ethnicity pay gap.
David Whitfield, chief executive and founder of HR DataHub, said that the figures paint a “clear, but worrying” picture of reporting in the UK.
He explained that diversity and inclusion (DI) data is critical for organisations to understand where they have problems – and how they are going to tackle them.
“The lack of comparable data available to companies has led to confusion and slow progress,” he said.
“This is why we created the DI Index, to enable organisations to collect and measure their DI data, set meaningful targets and implement changes that genuinely move the needle on workplace inclusivity.
“The lack of any legislation around reporting it doesn’t just allow organisations to escape responsibility, the lack of formal guidance also makes it tricky to know exactly what to do. To reduce inequality, the government cannot allow for ethnicity pay gap reporting to be a choice.”
The median ethnicity pay gap fell to 10% in 2021, according to HR DataHub, down from 12% the previous year.