UK businesses with 250 or more employers will have to provide data about their gender pay gap under a new legal requirement which comes into force today.

Under the new legislation, thousands of UK companies will begin to record their gender pay gap figures for the first time and will have to publish their first figures before April next year. The rules will be enforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The legislation will affect around 9,000 companies, who collectively employ more than 15 million people, or about half of the UK workforce.

According to the Fawcett Society, the gender pay gap for full time workers is 13.9%.

For more on the new gender pay gap reporting guidelines, click here.