Around 78% of companies have a gender pay gap that favours men, analysis by the BBC has found.

What’s more, the discrepancy in pay increased in favour of men across 45% of firms, while there was no change at 7% of companies.

All businesses with more than 250 employees were given until midnight on 4 April to file their pay comparison data – 10,428 had filed before this deadline.

On a slightly positive note, the median pay gap in favour of men fell slightly to 9.6% in 2018 – from 9.7% the previous year. This is calculated by comparing the difference in pay between middle-ranking men and women in the same companies.

The companies with the biggest gap

Fashion company Sweaty Betty reported one of the largest gaps at 66.6%, followed by Ryanair at 64.4%.

Countrywide Services, the estate agency network, also featured on this list with a gap of 60.6%, followed by Karen Millen with a 53% gap.

Other names included Independent Vetcare at 48.3% and Easyjet at 47.9%.

In 2018, women accounted for 38% of the top quartile of earners across the UK’s largest companies, up slightly from 37% the previous year.

According to analysis by The Guardian, the pay gap was most evident in the construction sector where the average woman was paid 76p for every pound earned by the average man, followed by 77p in the pound in the finance and insurance sectors, equating to an average gap of 22.9%.