The EU pay transparency directive is the rare obligation where the duty is clear, the arithmetic is specified, and the buying market for help has not formed. Directive (EU) 2023/970 had a transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. That date has passed, and most member states missed it.

Four transposed on time: Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania on a phased basis, and Malta. Greece became the fifth with Law 5316/2026, published 6 July 2026, with most obligations applying from 1 November 2026. France and Spain are at draft stage. Germany and Ireland are earlier. Denmark's bill went to parliament on 8 October 2026, with rules to apply from 1 March 2027. A late transposition does not move the directive's own reporting dates, which is the detail that catches planners out.

The reporting phase-in works by headcount. Employers with 250 or more workers report first by 7 June 2027 and annually after that. Employers with 150 to 249 workers also report first by 7 June 2027, then every three years. Employers with 100 to 149 workers report first by 7 June 2031, then every three years. Below 100 workers there is no reporting duty under the directive, though national law can and does go further.

What the Article 9 report contains is prescribed rather than left to judgment. The median pay gap between women and men, the gap in complementary and variable pay, the share of women and men receiving variable pay, the distribution of each sex across quartile pay bands, and the gap broken down by category of workers performing equal work or work of equal value. That last breakdown is where the work lives, because defining categories of work of equal value is a job of analysis, not a report-generation setting.

Article 10 sets the consequence. A joint pay assessment with workers' representatives becomes mandatory where three conditions all hold: the Article 9 report shows a gender pay gap of at least 5 per cent in average pay in any category of workers, the employer cannot justify that gap on objective and gender-neutral criteria, and the employer has not remedied it within six months of submitting the report. Three conditions, not one, which means a 5 per cent gap is a trigger for explanation rather than an automatic finding.

The duties that start before any report is filed are the ones with immediate operational bite. Article 5 requires candidates to be given the pay or pay range before the interview and bars the employer from asking what they earned previously. Article 7 gives workers the right to information on their own pay level and on average pay levels by sex for the same work or work of equal value.

Now the market observation, because it bears on how an SME should plan. A check of the specialist pay-equity and pay-transparency vendors on 14 October 2026 found that nearly all of the category quotes on request, with no price published anywhere on the vendor's site. An independent survey of fifteen such tools published on 23 September 2026 found two with a published figure. For a Belgian engineering firm of 180 staff trading into the UK and Germany, that means the first step toward compliance is a sales conversation of unknown length and unknown cost, before anyone has looked at a single pay band.

The arithmetic itself is not the hard part. The hard part is holding categories of work of equal value consistently across countries, and being able to show the working when a joint assessment is triggered.

ComplianceSME's toolkits carry the directive's reporting duties and dates per country, with the figures each report requires set out.

Questions on pay transparency and the first reports

What was the transposition deadline for the pay transparency directive?

Directive (EU) 2023/970 had a transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. That date has passed, and most member states missed it.

Which countries transposed on time?

Four: Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania on a phased basis, and Malta.

When do the Greek obligations start?

Greece became the fifth with Law 5316/2026, published 6 July 2026, with most obligations applying from 1 November 2026.

Where do France, Spain, Germany, Ireland and Denmark stand?

France and Spain are at draft stage. Germany and Ireland are earlier. Denmark's bill went to parliament on 8 October 2026, with rules to apply from 1 March 2027.

Our country has not transposed. Does our first report move?

No. A late transposition does not move the directive's own reporting dates, which is the detail that catches planners out.

When does an employer with 250 or more workers report?

First by 7 June 2027 and annually after that.

When does an employer with 150 to 249 workers report?

First by 7 June 2027, then every three years.

When does an employer with 100 to 149 workers report?

First by 7 June 2031, then every three years.

Do employers below 100 workers have to report?

Below 100 workers there is no reporting duty under the directive, though national law can and does go further.

What goes into the Article 9 report?

The median pay gap between women and men, the gap in complementary and variable pay, the share of women and men receiving variable pay, the distribution of each sex across quartile pay bands, and the gap broken down by category of workers performing equal work or work of equal value.

Which part of the report is the real work?

The breakdown by category of workers performing equal work or work of equal value, because defining categories of work of equal value is a job of analysis, not a report-generation setting.

What triggers a joint pay assessment?

Article 10 makes a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives mandatory where three conditions all hold: the Article 9 report shows a gender pay gap of at least 5 per cent in average pay in any category of workers, the employer cannot justify that gap on objective and gender-neutral criteria, and the employer has not remedied it within six months of submitting the report.

Does a 5 per cent gap mean we are in breach?

No. Three conditions, not one, which means a 5 per cent gap is a trigger for explanation rather than an automatic finding.

What must we tell candidates before an interview?

Article 5 requires candidates to be given the pay or pay range before the interview.

Can we ask a candidate what they earned previously?

No. Article 5 bars the employer from asking what they earned previously.

What can a worker ask us for about pay?

Article 7 gives workers the right to information on their own pay level and on average pay levels by sex for the same work or work of equal value.

Is there pay transparency software for a small company, and what does it cost?

A check of the specialist pay-equity and pay-transparency vendors on 14 October 2026 found that nearly all of the category quotes on request, with no price published anywhere on the vendor's site. An independent survey of fifteen such tools published on 23 September 2026 found two with a published figure. For a Belgian engineering firm of 180 staff trading into the UK and Germany, that means the first step toward compliance is a sales conversation of unknown length and unknown cost, before anyone has looked at a single pay band.

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