By April next year, for the first time, all UK companies and public sector organisations employing 250 people or more must report the gap between what they pay their female and male staff... But complaints about the rigours of the reporting process miss the dangers of ignoring the gender pay gap, or of treating the new requirements as a tick-box exercise rather than an opportunity to engage fully with the question... The government hopes — although has not insisted — that, alongside reporting their gender pay gaps, companies will publish their plans of action as to how they aim to address them... Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, the UK charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights, says pay gap reporting is merely a first step. “Those who make the greatest progress will develop an evidence-based action plan and start to make meaningful changes — from flexible working by default to supporting fathers in the workplace,” she says. [refers to Virgin Money]