Tory pay audit 'to tackle bias'

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Firms who lose wages tribunals would have to carry out a "pay audit" of all their staff under Tory plans to end sex discrimination at work.

Shadow minister Theresa May said the problem with the current system is that tribunals heard cases individually.

That meant firms found guilty of discrimination are not forced to do anything for other female employees.

The Tory call follows a warning that the pay tribunal system is close to breaking point.

Sex discrimination cases more than doubled between 2005 and 2006, to more than 44,000 - largely in local authorities and the NHS - and there is still a backlog of thousands more.

'No win, no fee'

Equal Opportunities Commission chairwoman Jenny Watson said there had been a huge increase in cases due to "no win, no fee" lawyers - and the system could not cope.

She urged ministers to impose a moratorium on new equal pay claims for firms which agreed to check pay systems and put in an appropriate action plan to allow them some "breathing space" to put things right.

We've got to have fairness and equality for women at work Harriet HarmanMinister for Women

Ms May, the shadow women's minister, said her proposals would force firms to change their practices.

"What we would like is to make it a requirement that they had... to do a compulsory pay audit according to certain guidelines that would be set for them," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

"So that one case would actually require an employer to change their practice for other women who are being employed there too."

Business 'burden'

She said that the Conservatives were determined to address the pay gap which meant that women were paid, on average, 17.2% less than men.

Other proposals unveiled by the Conservatives include a new "reasonableness" test for employers who claimed women were paid less due to other factors.

She also promised to do more to help women into work and up the career ladder and to extend the right to request flexible working to all parents of children aged 18 or younger.

The British Chambers of Commerce warned that the proposals would add to burdens on employers and said that tying them into "more restrictive regulation" would not help.

'Years of silence'

But the measures were welcomed by the campaign group the Fawcett Society, after what it described as "a number of years of silence on this issue" by the Conservatives.

Minister for Women Harriet Harman said inequality of pay remained a big problem and said the government was considering a "whole range of proposals", but would not say whether she backed a moratorium on cases.

She said Ms May's suggestion was "very interesting" and she would look at it more closely.

She added: "Above all we've got to have fairness and equality for women at work, but we've also got to make sure that the public sector, many of whom owe a great deal in back pay, can manage their budgets, can provide fairness in the back pay, but also continue to provide good public services."