The gender pay gap figure has fallen to 7.4% in 2020 among full-time employees the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed. This suggests that female employees in full time employment earned 92.6% of their male counterparts' pay. The figure is based on the average hourly earnings of full-time employees and is down from 9% in 2019. The gender pay gap among all employees, including part-time workers, was down from 17.4% in 2019 to 15.5% in 2020. The most significant decrease in the gender pay gap was recorded amongst managers, directors and senior officials, falling from 16.3% to 9.9% in 2020 and showing positive signs of women holding higher paid managerial roles. The gender pay gap remained close to zero for full-time employees under 40 years but was over 10% for older age groups. The gender pay gap was higher in England than in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The ONS indicated that evidence suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic did not have a significant impact on the gender pay gap in 2020, however it noted that estimates are subject to some uncertainty due to the challenges faced as a result of the pandemic.  These figures seem to contradict figures released following this year's deadline for gender pay gap reporting, which found the GPG had increased amongst the employers who reported.  However, the ONS report looks at more recent figures from a broader range of employers, while the GPG reporting figures are based on a "snapshot" date from April 2019.

A number of firms have signed up to the #10000BlackInterns campaign to improve workplace diversity. The campaign was launched by a team of former investment industry professionals in a push to improve the diversity of professional industries in the UK. Businesses who join the programme will provide paid internships to black workers. The campaign has already proved to be popular with signatories in sectors ranging from education and healthcare to advertising, all sectors which are struggling to promote a level of diversity that matches the current UK population. Support has also been received from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s largest business lobby group, and former Prime Minister David Cameron. A similar, smaller scheme was launched in August by the same team, #100BlackInterns, where firms in the investment management industry committed to hiring 100 black interns a year. This scheme has already accumulated over 200 signatories.

The real living wage has risen to £9.50 an hour which will be welcome news to the more than 250,000 people who work for an employer who has voluntarily signed up to be a "real living wage" employer. This will be a boost of 20p per hour. Real living wage employers in London will pay £10.85 an hour, a 10p rise. This increase has been implemented as a means of helping families through the pandemic, with over 800 more employers joining the Living Wage Foundation since the start of lockdown. However, this real living wage shouldn't be confused with the compulsory national minimum or national living wage which workers are legally entitled to.

The IR35 rules are to be clarified according to a tax policy update published by HMRC. The "technical change" is to be made to the off-payroll working rules in order to clarify the definition of an "intermediary." The change has been made to allow IR35 reforms due to come into force on the 6^th April 2021 to operate as intended. HMRC claimed the definition had unintentionally been made too wide and meant it went beyond the scope of policy. The widened scope of the definition of intermediary had meant that umbrella companies could be classed as an "intermediary" which had effectively rendered their role obsolete. This new amendment has therefore been welcomed and deemed to provide reassurance to contract professionals.