What is the Equality Act 2010, how do equal pay laws work and are they different from the gender pay gap?
The legislation bans the unfair treatment of employees and helps achieve equal opportunities in the workplace - yet still women are earning less than men
THE Equality Act 2010 bans the unfair treatment of employees and helps achieve equal opportunities in the workplace and in wider society.
But how do equal pay laws work - and are they different to the gender pay gap? Here's the lowdown.
What is the Equality Act 2010 and what does it do?
The Equality Act 2010 brings together 116 different pieces of legislation to protect people's rights and advance equality for all.
It replaces previous anti-discrimination legislation with a single law to make it easier for people to understand and comply with.
The public sector Equality Duty came into force on April 5 2011 and applies to public bodies.
It replaces the three previous public sector equality duties - for race, disability and gender.
Equality Duty now also covers age, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion - including lack of belief - sex, sexual orientation and marriage and civil partnership.
Breaching the act can result in a fine ranging from £200 to £50,000.
How do equal pay laws work - and why is there still a gender pay gap?
The Equal Pay Act was introduced by the UK Parliament in 1970 in a bid to combat the divide and was superseded by the Equality Act in 2010.
But on average women still earn about 18 per cent less per hour than men.
This is an improvement, down from 28 per cent in 1993 and 23 per cent in 2003, though campaigners say there's still a long way to go.
Large businesses are required to report their gender pay gaps as of April 6 2017.
Companies with over 250 employees must publish the gender pay and gender bonus data of both males and females on the pay roll.
The government said the new law was part of a longer term scheme to support women in the workplace, including investing £5m to help parents return to work, providing 30 hours of free childcare, and introducing shared parental leave.
Is is illegal to pay women less?
For 47 years, it's been illegal to pay men and women different rates for the same job.
So how come there's such a big gender gap when it comes to pay?
Equality charity says a variety of different factors have contributed to the inequality.
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Is claims: "There's no one cause of the gap - important factors are discrimination, undervaluing roles predominantly done by women, dominance of men in best paid positions and unequal caring responsibilities."
In October 2017, Theresa May urged small firms to publish details of gender pay in a bid to close the gap.
The Prime Minister said a “step change” was needed, following news that large companies will be required to release this information by March 2018.