Equal pay claim question help

[DrMaryMalone]

I am at the researching stage of a potential equal pay claim which based on basic salary I am pretty sure would be upheld. However looking at ACAS it also says benefits, contractual terms etc can also be included and I just wondered if anyone had an expertise on this and could answer this query.

The comparator I have in mind has a pick up truck as a company car including private fuel which he needs as his role takes him out of the office probably 80% of the time and requires off road driving nearly every day he is not in the office. He will pay the flat rate tax of £68 a month for the vehicle as it is classed as a commercial vehicle.

When I started my job I was offered a choice of 2 company cars or a van which would have been unsuitable due to lack of seats for my kids. I chose the cheaper of the 2 cars and currently pay £220 a month in tax for the vehicle and fuel. I am out of the office probably 60% of the time and also need to do off road driving at certain times of the year, at which point I have to borrow a pick up truck from another member of staff.

Would I have an case that they should either provide me with a suitable vehicle which pays the same cheaper tax or pay me the difference between the two amounts to make our pay equal?

Thanks

The tax is completely irrelevant. Equal pay is about what the company pays you/benefits it gives you, not how much tax you pay.

Benefits can be included, but by the sounds of things, there is objective justification for the difference in vehicles, so I'd focus on the actual pay rather than the cars tbh.

Thanks for that. So the equal pay would be based on top line as opposed to take home pay then? Makes sense.

Yes- your employer is responsible for what they pay you, they don’t have to take into account what HMRC takes from you.

Take home pay can be affected by sll sorts of things, like AVCs, health care (a colleague has cover for his whole family; I have just me), and other things which means you might get different take-home pay for entirely reasonable reasons - which is why equal pay has to look at gross pay.