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Good practice Imported

Isle of Man's Equality Act Equal Pay Code and Earnings Survey Gender Pay Gap Tracking

Isle of Man · Douglas · See the Isle of Man profile · See the Douglas profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 43% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

The Isle of Man's Equality Act 2017 created a statutory Equal Pay Code covering equal pay for equal, similar and equal-value work. Annual government Earnings Surveys tracking the gap show it narrowing from around 25% in 2019 to 9.7% (average weekly pay) and 4.6% (median weekly pa

25 %
Average full-time pay gap (2019)
9.7 %
Average weekly pay gap (2025)
4.6 %
Median weekly pay gap (2025)
5.6 %
Average hourly pay gap (2025)
-0.6 % (favouring women)
Median hourly pay gap (2025)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Isle of Man Government (Cabinet Office)
Period
2017-2025
Keywords
public administration, employment law, labour statistics

Context

The Isle of Man's Equality Act 2017 is the island's comprehensive equality statute. Its Equal Pay Code of Practice implies a sex equality clause into every employment contract and extends equal-pay rights beyond 'like work' to work that is 'similar, equivalent or of equal value' — closing a gap in the previous legal framework.

Objectives

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual Earnings Survey Report tracking pay by sex across the public and private sectors to monitor progress on closing the gender pay gap.

Activities

The 2019 edition found a 25% gap between men's and women's average full-time pay, prompting the Council of Ministers to strengthen equal-pay guidance and the accompanying statutory code.

Results

By the 2025 Earnings Survey, gaps had narrowed to 9.7% for average weekly pay, 4.6% for median weekly pay and 5.6% for average hourly pay — all still favouring men — while median hourly pay showed a small gap favouring women (-0.6%). Independent local reporting (Manx.News) described 'a general downward trend in the gender pay gap since 2017', coinciding with the Act's introduction.

Conclusions

The survey does not establish that the legislation caused the narrowing, and a real gap persists across most measures.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Cabinet Office produces the annual Earnings Survey Report, Council of Ministers strengthens equal-pay guidance and the statutory code in response to findings

Conditions for success

  • A statutory code that implies an equal-pay clause into every employment contract, broadened beyond 'like work' to similar/equivalent/equal-value work
  • Sustained annual data collection to track progress over time

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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