How do I find out if I am being paid less than a colleague?

The Equality Act 2010 implies an equality clause into every contract of employment, so a man and a woman doing equal work are entitled to equal contractual terms. Enforcing it starts with information, which is why the Act protects pay discussions held for the purpose of finding out whether there is discrimination — a contractual "pay secrecy" clause cannot be used against you in that context.

Gathering the evidence

• Ask colleagues informally. Comparing job content matters as much as headline salary.
• Send your employer an equal pay questionnaire asking for pay and benefit information for the comparator role.
• Use the gender pay gap report if your employer publishes one — it is useful background showing average differences, but it is not proof about your role. You still need an actual comparator.

The three routes and the employer’s defence

You can compare yourself with someone of the opposite sex doing like work, work rated as equivalent under a valid job evaluation scheme, or work of equal value. Equal pay covers every contractual term, not just basic salary — bonuses, overtime and shift rates, sick pay, pension contributions, cars and other benefits all count, and a claim can succeed on a single term.

The employer’s answer is usually the genuine material factor defence: that the difference is explained by something other than sex, such as market rates, length of service or geography. Market forces can succeed, but only if the factor is genuinely untainted by sex — tribunals look hard at whether female-dominated roles have been systematically undervalued.

The equal value route is the most powerful and the most demanding: the tribunal appoints an independent expert to compare the jobs on effort, skill and decision-making, and the process can run two to three years. That expense is why many equal value claims settle before the expert reports. Union backing or legal representation matters here more than in most claims.

Watch the deadline, which differs from most employment claims: an equal pay claim must generally be brought within six months of the end of your employment, or of the last underpayment if you are still employed. Notify Acas as soon as you have a comparator in mind.