UK gender pay gap: Over 500 companies reveal figures with women paid up to 65 per cent less than men

Gender pay gaps at more than 500 large companies have been revealed under rules put in place by the Government.

All companies with 250 or more employees must publish details of the salary difference between male and female employees by April and report back annually on the pay gap.

It comes after pay inequality between the sexes was thrust into the spotlight in 2017 after the BBC’s annual report showed most of its stars earning £150,000 and more were men.

Among the 527 companies announcing their pay gap data on Saturday, high street fashion shop Phase Eight had the biggest average pay difference with men paid nearly 65 per cent more per hour than women.

Men working for budget airline EasyJet are paid almost 52 per cent more on average than women while Virgin Money paid female staff 32.5 per cent lower than male colleagues.

Many of the companies ranked in the top 20 for biggest gaps were financial service firms.

EasyJet explained its gap by the fact its highest paid employees are often male pilots while women are more often found in lower-paid cabin crew roles.

“EasyJet’s gender pay gap is strongly influenced by the salaries and gender make-up of its pilot community, which make up over a quarter of its UK employees,” it said. The airline has set a target of 20 per cent of new pilots to be female by 2020.

Phase Eight said its 64.8 per cent pay gap was due to most male employees working in the higher-paid head office roles rather than on the shop floor where wages are on average lower.

“The figures result from the fact that, as a women’s fashion retailer, the staff in our stores are overwhelmingly female, whilst our corporate head office staff (whose pay rates are typically higher) are more evenly split between men and women,” the brand said.

In their report, Virgin Money said their gap had decreased and added: “We are confident that men and women are paid equally for doing equivalent jobs across our business.” Their aim is to achieve a 50/50 pay gap balance by 2020.

Employers with a low or non-existent pay gap among the workforce was the British Museum at 0 per cent and the UK armed forces, which was 0.9 per cent lower for women.

Cambridgeshire Police had a gender pay gap of 12.9 per cent higher for women and Unilever UK was also 8.8 per cent higher for women.

Not all companies required to do so have published their gender pay gay yet.

While the gender pay gap was last year at its lowest level ever, the Government said it is committed to eliminating it within a generation.

The gap is calculated by the difference in salary between men and women regardless of their job or position. It differs from equal pay, which means men and women carrying out the same jobs must legally be paid the same.