Last year, male employees were paid an average of £23.11 per hour, whereas female employees were paid an hourly salary of £19.92, according to the Global Payroll Association (GPA).
A gender pay gap score of zero means equal pay between men and women, but the annual score grew to 13.8 – a rise from 13.2 in 2023.
While the score remains higher than it was a year before, it is still lower than the levels recorded in 2021, when it stood at 14.7.
Last October, the gap in pay narrowed to 7%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), but the change was described as moving “at a snail’s pace” by Paul Nowak, the Trades Union Congress’ (TUC’s) general secretary.
In terms of location, London was the area with the biggest gap in what men and women earn, scoring 18.8 on the GPA metric. This marked an increase of 2.6 compared to the year before.
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The South had the next-widest gap with 18, followed by the East of England, at 17.4, and the South West, which scored 15.1.
The East Midlands had a score of 14.3, but the West Midlands was just over half that difference at 7.4 – marking a drop of 2.9 points.
While many regions felt a surge in the difference in what the two sexes earn, there were signs of pay marginally heading in a more equal direction for some parts of the UK.
Those included Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales, which saw decreases of two and 1.4 points respectively.
Elsewhere, the North East of England and East Midlands both had the levels of disparity in earnings fall by 0.3 points.
In Scotland, the score grew by 1.4 points to stand at 8.2.
Last year, Equal Pay Day, a campaign launched by the Fawcett Society, found that the day working women stopped getting paid due to unequal earnings fell on the earliest day for over 10 years.
Its research showed women earned £631 less every month than men on average – which totals £7,572 over the year, meaning from 20 November 2024, female employees would technically continue to work without being paid.
‘Gender inequality remains alive and well’
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and founder of the GPA, said: “Gender inequality remains alive and well when it comes to the average earnings on offer across the UK and, whilst the gap had been narrowing over the last two years, 2024 saw a complete reversal in this trend, with the gender pay gap widening to its largest since 2021.
“It’s disappointing to see London leading the way when it comes to the most notable widening of the gender pay gap. You would hope that in a city as diverse as our capital, which attracts top professional talent from around the globe, businesses would be more receptive to the concept of equal pay.”
