Mayor of West Yorkshire announces ethnicity pay gap reporting in bid to tackle race inequalities

West Yorkshire Combined Authority will publish an ethnicity pay report for the first time, the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin has announced.

This comes after local authorities across London, Bristol and, at the Senedd in Wales, have also begun publishing ethnicity pay reports, as recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) highlighted that most of the minority ethnic groups in Britain continue to earn less than their white counterparts.

Marsha de Cordova, the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, has now renewed her call for the government to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for firms with more than 250 employees. The recent report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities failed to recommend it.

Recently, The Independent exclusively revealed that Britain’s Black professionals are twice as likely to be turned down for a pay increase after negotiations than white people.

Ms Brabin said: “I am so proud to be following in the footsteps of my Labour colleagues across the United Kingdom by committing to ethnicity pay gap reporting today.

“We know there is a lot to do to end workplace inequalities for Black, Asian and ethnic minority people who have faced the worst economic impacts of the pandemic.

“In my first seven weeks in office I have started this important work, appointing the fantastic Alison Lowe as the first Black female Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, and pledging to appoint an Inclusivity Champion to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion are central to all that we do.

“But there is so much more to do and collecting data on our ethnicity pay gap is the first step on the road to closing the gap for good, both at the Combined Authority and across West Yorkshire.”

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (ECHR), Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Trades Union Congress (TUC) and, most recently, Theresa May’s former race adviser Lord Simon Wooley, have all joined calls for reporting to be put in place to help end race inequality in the workplace.

Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer, a report by consultancy firm WorkL found that racial disparity in pay is entrenched between white and non-white workers, with the former significantly happier at work during the pandemic than the latter.

The survey of 20,000 people worldwide saw 72 per cent saying they were happy at work, compared with 64 per cent before the pandemic hit.

However, the data found Black women the least likely to feel empowered at work and Black men the least happy at work.

Responding to news of the upcoming ethnicity pay gap in West Yorkshire, Ms Cordova said: “The people of West Yorkshire have a role model in Tracy Brabin who is taking concrete steps to end pay inequality for Black, Asian and ethnic minority people today. She is showing what Labour in power can do.

“We know that pay gap reporting is the best way to flush out pay inequality in our society, which continues to be a huge barrier to equality for Black, Asian and ethnic minority people.

“The national government cannot wait any longer. As we emerge from a pandemic which has disproportionately impacted Black, Asian and ethnic minority people, we need action to end persistent injustices. The next Labour government will introduce a Race Equality Act to tackle structural and institutional racism root and branch.”