In one of the latest attempts to address the issues causing the gender pay disparity, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee released The Gender Pay Gap report. The report states that currently, there is a “lack of effective government policy” in many of the different areas that contribute to the gap. Additionally, the report says that the flagship policy of shared parental leave has made very little difference since its implementation.

This was not the only policy or regulation the report attacked. The report also said that the forthcoming regulation, which will hold larger companies accountable for reporting their pay gap, hasn’t gone far enough to make any kind of difference either.

While there were many criticisms in this report there were also recommendations. The report suggests that three months of parental leave be automatically granted to the second parent on top of current parental leave benefits. It is also recommended that paternity leave increase to 90% of salary with the three months non-transferable paternity leave paid at 90% for the first four weeks.

The House of Commons also suggested that the government look into the benefits of offering all forms of parental leave on a part-time basis.

The report also addressed a topic that is on the top of many human resource professionals lists – flexible working. One of the keys to addressing the gender pay gap, according to the report, is flexible working hours.

Some HR experts feels as though the report criticized the government too much but did praise the report for establishing strategies for lower-paid sectors with an abundance of female employees.