Legislation published by the Government has confirmed its intention to limit gender pay gap reporting requirements to organisations with more than 250 employees at first. But this threshold will fall to 50 – in line with union demands – after three years.

It means that just a third of employers will initially have to publish gender pay gap information when the legislation is first enacted. This will cover almost half a million people who work in firms with more than 250 staff, and the first deadline for firms to submit their pay gap data is expected to be December 2020 or January 2021.

A further 22% of the workforce will be covered once the threshold falls to 50 staff or more.

The legislation will also require reporting on differences in bonus pay, part-time pay and the pay of men and women on temporary contracts.

Fórsa has been at the forefront of the trade union campaign for legislation on gender pay gap reporting, which it says would encourage employers into tangible action to bridge the gap. But the union last year criticised the Government’s decision to delay the process by withdrawing support from a well-advanced Bill in order to produce its own legislation.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and National Women's Council have called on the Government to compel all employers to publish the gender pay gap data within a year of the legislation coming into force.