The gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at “nearly half” of the UK’s largest companies and public sector bodies over the past year, according to analysis of new government figures.
Almost eight in 10 companies still pay men more than women with more than a quarter paying female employees up to 20 per cent less.
Overall there was no significant improvement in the gender pay gap since the previous year with the gap shrinking slightly from 9.7 per cent to 9.6 per cent.
All organisations with more than 250 employees have to publish their gender pay gap figures. The deadline for the public sector was 31 March, while charities and companies had until midnight on 4 April to file.
Of the 10,444 companies that had filed by the deadline, 8,124 (78 per cent) paid male employees more than female staff based on median hourly pay.
1/50 5 April 2019
Activists in hazmat suits and masks stop traffic in west London in a protest accusing authorities of lying after cancer-causing chemicals were found in soil close to Grenfell Tower
PA
2/50 4 April 2019
England football manager Gareth Southgate with the OBE that he received at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London
PA
3/50 3 April 2019
Newborn lambs in a snow covered field near Allendale, Northumberland, after temperatures dipped below freezing overnight. Hill snow, sleet, showers and gales are expected for parts of the UK as the chilly snap keeps hold.
PA
4/50 2 April 2019
Armathwaite Hall hotel in Keswick, Cumbria holds Lemoga classes with the lemurs from Lake District Wild Life Park, who were mingling with the class to create a personal yoga experience which aims to heighten the sense of wellbeing for both lemur and human. With their friendly, outgoing personalities and love for human contact, lemurs make the perfect yoga buddies, helping people to laugh, unwind and stretch away their troubles
PA
5/50 1 April 2019
Fire fighters attend to two police cars that were destroyed after being set on fire outside Goldthorpe police station in South Yorkshire in a suspected arson attack
PA
6/50 31 March 2019
Forensics teams work at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton in London. Four people have been stabbed in a spate of knife attacks in the north of the capital over the weekend
Getty
7/50 30 March 2019
Workers from the Honda plant in Swindon during a protest march through the town as the car giant will be urged to reverse its decision to close its UK plant
Unite South West/PA
8/50 29 March 2019
Pro-Brexit protesters outside Westminster as MPs voted on a Government motion on the EU withdrawal
PA
9/50 28 March 2019
England football captain Harry Kane is made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by the Duke of Cambridge during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace
PA
10/50 27 March 2019
Gallery staff give a final dusting to the ‘Olympe’ sculpture by Aspencrow, modelled on Cara Delevingne and an interpretation of Medusa, as it is unveiled at the JD Malay Gallery in Mayfair, London
PA
11/50 26 March 2019
PD Marci with handler PC Neil Billany, PD Kai with handler PC Jean Pearce, PD Bruno with handler Rob Smith, PD Delta with handler PC Mark Snoxhall, PDSA vet Rosamund Ford, and PD Dave with handler PC Andy Salter at Borough market in London where the dogs were honoured with the PDSA Order of Merit for helping emergency services during the 2017 London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Borough Market
PA
12/50 25 March 2019
Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox arrives in Downing street, London for a cabinet meeting. British Prime Minister Theresa May will today chair a potentially volatile meeting of her cabinet amid reports of an attempted coup by colleagues over her handling of Brexit.
AFP/Getty
13/50 24 March 2019
Workers peeling off stickers left on the Cabinet Office door on Whitehall, London, left by anti-Brexit campaigners after they took part in the People’s Vote March
PA
14/50 23 March 2019
Protesters take part in the Put It To The People March on Whitehall in London. Thousands of protesters gathered for the march from Park Lane to Parliament Square calling for a public vote on the Governments final Brexit deal
Getty
15/50 22 March 2019
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news briefing after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels
Reuters
16/50 21 March 2019
The mosque and community centre on Albert Road in Birmingham where a police forensic team are at work after it had its windows smashed with a sledgehammer. An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers has been launched after four mosques in the Birmingham area were attacked overnight
PA
17/50 20 March 2019
Gallery technicians install Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the British Museum in London, ahead of the opening of Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition, which runs from 11 April to 21 July
PA
18/50 19 March 2019
The ‘tall ship’ William II passes a wind turbine as it sails along the north east coast near Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear after it set off from Blyth in Northumberland on a voyage round the coastline of Great Britain calling at 10 ports en route and changing crews at each stage. The Blyth Tall Ship project is a charity working alongside Blyth community volunteers to recapture the spirit of adventure that was employed in the town to discover the Antarctic 200 years ago and the turbine is part of a pilot field operated by EDF off Blyth which uses concrete float-and-submerge foundations
PA
19/50 18 March 2019
Messenger, the largest bronze cast sculpture in the UK, arrives in Plymouth Sound by barge as it makes its way to be installed outside Theater Royal Plymouth, Devon
PA
20/50 17 March 2019
Flooding in Silsdend, Yorkshire. Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across the country. Flood warnings remain in place across the UK
PA
21/50 16 March 2019
Police at the scene in Fulham, west London where a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death this morning. The Metropolitan Police said it was called “to reports of a fight in progress” by ambulance crews and arrived on the scene at about 12.27am. The victim was found with stab wounds and died at the scene at 12.56am despite attempts by paramedics and members of the public to save his life
PA
22/50 15 March 2019
Schoolchildren gather around Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace as they take part in a student climate protest in London. Thousands of pupils from schools, colleges and universities across the UK will walk out in the second major strike against climate change this year. Young people nationwide are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency and take action. Similar strikes are taking place around the world today including in Japan and Australia, inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who criticised world leaders at a United Nations climate conference
Getty
23/50 14 March 2019
Families of those killed during Bloody Sunday march through Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Public Prosecution Service announced only one former British soldier is to be put on trial in connection with his role in the shootings that left 13 people dead in Derry on 30 January 1972. Families of those killed gathered outside The Museum of Free Derry, yards from where the killings took place, before marching to the city centre hotel to hear the announcement
Charles McQuillan
Getty
24/50 13 March 2019
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street as he heads to the House of Commons, to deliver his Spring Statement. He announced he was slashing the UK growth forecast and warned no-deal Brexit will destroy pledge to end austerity
PA
25/50 12 March 2019
British Synchronised swimmers Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, attempting to recreate their World Championship routine in a pool filled with plastic for The Big Bang Fair challenge, opening this week at the NEC Birmingham. The campaign for the Big Bang competition, which is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people in the UK has been created to help highlight how the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped in the world’s oceans every year affects marine life
PA
26/50 11 March 2019
Snow surrounds the Tan Hill pub in North Yorkshire
PA
27/50 10 March 2019
A man feeds food to dogs during the ‘Brexit Dogs Dinner’ protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London
Reuters
28/50 9 March 2019
Protesters from the climate change pressure group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate by pouring fake blood onto the street outside Downing Street in London
Reuters
29/50 8 March 2019
A woman runs with her Komondor dog as it is judged in a show ring on the second day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
AFP/Getty
30/50 7 March 2019
Scaffolding which has blown down in strong winds in Hampstead, north London
Robert Berg/Twitter/PA Wire
31/50 6 March 2019
Police and bomb disposal services outside the University of Glasgow after the building was evacuated when a suspect package was found in the mailroom
PA
32/50 5 March 2019
Police officers secure the scene where a suspicious package was found near Waterloo railway station. Other packages were also found at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, with the police saying they were bombs. Counterterror officers are investigating the three devices as linked following a series of evacuations. One of the packages opened by office staff at Heathrow Airport burst into flames. Scotland Yard did not rule out the existence of other bombs. “The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – have been assessed by specialist officers to be small improvised explosive devices,” a spokesperson said. “These devices, at this early stage of the investigation, appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened. “The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command is treating the incidents as a linked series and is keeping an open mind regarding motives.”
Reuters
33/50 4 March 2019
Large waves crash over the sea walls at Cleveleys near Blackpool, as the remains of Storm Freya, which has battered Britain with gales, heavy rain and snow causes widespread travel disruption
PA
34/50 3 March 2019
Christopher Hepworth with partner Tanisha Prince (right) on their way to victory in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey
PA
35/50 2 March 2019
Police officers search near the scene on St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill, east London following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Friday night. Police were called to reports of a knife attack in the Romford area by the ambulance service at 9.25pm. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene just over an hour later. Her next of kin have been informed and detectives from the Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation
PA
36/50 1 March 2019
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Niamh Emerson celebrate after winning gold and silver medals in the women’s pentathlon at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Getty
37/50 28 February 2019
A painting, believed to be the second version of “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is picutred during a photocall in London following its restoration. – The 400-year-old canvas — depicting the beheading of an Assyrian general, Holofernes, by Judith from the biblical Book of Judith — was found in 2014 when the owners of a house near the southwestern city of Toulouse in France, were investigating a leak in the ceiling. It is a burst of violence painted in haunting tones by a Renaissance master worth at least $100 million — or yet another fake distressing the art world.
AFP/Getty
38/50 27 February 2019
Dozens of firefighters worked through the night to battle a major moorland blaze in West Yorkshire. More than 1.5sq km of Saddleworth Moor was ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the UK’s hottest winter day on record
Reuters
39/50 26 February 2019
Alastair Cook after he received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace
PA
40/50 25 February 2019
Nobby the polar bear cools down at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park during unseasonably warm weather. The park was covered in a blanket of snow at the end of February 2018 as the UK was hit by sub-zero temperatures. Forecasters have said that after this weekend’s warm weather, temperatures later this week should return to normal
PA
41/50 24 February 2019
Olivia Colman won the best actress in a leading role award for ‘The Favourite’ at the 91st Academy Awards in Hollywood
PA
42/50 23 February 2019
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson seen on the big screen as he addresses a protest over the BBC’s Panorama programme outside the BBC in MediaCityUK, Salford
PA
43/50 22 February 2019
A girl takes a photo of her dog with daffodils in St James’s Park in London
PA
44/50 21 February 2019
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
Reuters
45/50 20 February 2019
Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, (middle row, left to right) Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey, (front row, left to right) Sarah Woollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan, following a press conference for the Independent Group where the three Conservative MPs, Woollaston, Allen and Soubry, announced their resignation from the party
PA
46/50 19 February 2019
A full moon sets near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside as the sun begins to rise, ahead of the super snow moon on Tuesday evening
PA
47/50 18 February 2019
MP Chuka Umunna speaks during the announcement of his resignation, along with a group of six other Labour MPs, including, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Ann Coffey and Gavin Shuker and who will be known as the Independent Group
PA
48/50 17 February 2019
Climate change activists block the road as part of an Extinction Rebellion protest outside a London Fashion Week event at Tate Britain in London, calling on the fashion industry to use its influence to help to create a sustainable world.
PA
49/50 16 February 2019
Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest over BP and Iraq at the British Museum in London, Britain
Reuters
50/50 15 February 2019
Schoolchildren take part in a student climate march in Parliament Square in London. Thousands of UK pupils from schools, colleges and universities will walk out for a nationwide climate change strike. Students in 60 cities from the West Country to Scotland are protesting, urging the government to declare a climate emergency and take action over the problem. They are keen that the national curriculum is reformed and the environmental crisis is communicated to the public. Similar strikes have taken place in Australia and in European countries such as Belgium and Sweden
Getty
1/50 5 April 2019
Activists in hazmat suits and masks stop traffic in west London in a protest accusing authorities of lying after cancer-causing chemicals were found in soil close to Grenfell Tower
PA
2/50 4 April 2019
England football manager Gareth Southgate with the OBE that he received at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London
PA
3/50 3 April 2019
Newborn lambs in a snow covered field near Allendale, Northumberland, after temperatures dipped below freezing overnight. Hill snow, sleet, showers and gales are expected for parts of the UK as the chilly snap keeps hold.
PA
4/50 2 April 2019
Armathwaite Hall hotel in Keswick, Cumbria holds Lemoga classes with the lemurs from Lake District Wild Life Park, who were mingling with the class to create a personal yoga experience which aims to heighten the sense of wellbeing for both lemur and human. With their friendly, outgoing personalities and love for human contact, lemurs make the perfect yoga buddies, helping people to laugh, unwind and stretch away their troubles
PA
5/50 1 April 2019
Fire fighters attend to two police cars that were destroyed after being set on fire outside Goldthorpe police station in South Yorkshire in a suspected arson attack
PA
6/50 31 March 2019
Forensics teams work at the scene of a stabbing in Edmonton in London. Four people have been stabbed in a spate of knife attacks in the north of the capital over the weekend
Getty
7/50 30 March 2019
Workers from the Honda plant in Swindon during a protest march through the town as the car giant will be urged to reverse its decision to close its UK plant
Unite South West/PA
8/50 29 March 2019
Pro-Brexit protesters outside Westminster as MPs voted on a Government motion on the EU withdrawal
PA
9/50 28 March 2019
England football captain Harry Kane is made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by the Duke of Cambridge during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace
PA
10/50 27 March 2019
Gallery staff give a final dusting to the ‘Olympe’ sculpture by Aspencrow, modelled on Cara Delevingne and an interpretation of Medusa, as it is unveiled at the JD Malay Gallery in Mayfair, London
PA
11/50 26 March 2019
PD Marci with handler PC Neil Billany, PD Kai with handler PC Jean Pearce, PD Bruno with handler Rob Smith, PD Delta with handler PC Mark Snoxhall, PDSA vet Rosamund Ford, and PD Dave with handler PC Andy Salter at Borough market in London where the dogs were honoured with the PDSA Order of Merit for helping emergency services during the 2017 London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Borough Market
PA
12/50 25 March 2019
Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox arrives in Downing street, London for a cabinet meeting. British Prime Minister Theresa May will today chair a potentially volatile meeting of her cabinet amid reports of an attempted coup by colleagues over her handling of Brexit.
AFP/Getty
13/50 24 March 2019
Workers peeling off stickers left on the Cabinet Office door on Whitehall, London, left by anti-Brexit campaigners after they took part in the People’s Vote March
PA
14/50 23 March 2019
Protesters take part in the Put It To The People March on Whitehall in London. Thousands of protesters gathered for the march from Park Lane to Parliament Square calling for a public vote on the Governments final Brexit deal
Getty
15/50 22 March 2019
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news briefing after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels
Reuters
16/50 21 March 2019
The mosque and community centre on Albert Road in Birmingham where a police forensic team are at work after it had its windows smashed with a sledgehammer. An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers has been launched after four mosques in the Birmingham area were attacked overnight
PA
17/50 20 March 2019
Gallery technicians install Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the British Museum in London, ahead of the opening of Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition, which runs from 11 April to 21 July
PA
18/50 19 March 2019
The ‘tall ship’ William II passes a wind turbine as it sails along the north east coast near Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear after it set off from Blyth in Northumberland on a voyage round the coastline of Great Britain calling at 10 ports en route and changing crews at each stage. The Blyth Tall Ship project is a charity working alongside Blyth community volunteers to recapture the spirit of adventure that was employed in the town to discover the Antarctic 200 years ago and the turbine is part of a pilot field operated by EDF off Blyth which uses concrete float-and-submerge foundations
PA
19/50 18 March 2019
Messenger, the largest bronze cast sculpture in the UK, arrives in Plymouth Sound by barge as it makes its way to be installed outside Theater Royal Plymouth, Devon
PA
20/50 17 March 2019
Flooding in Silsdend, Yorkshire. Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across the country. Flood warnings remain in place across the UK
PA
21/50 16 March 2019
Police at the scene in Fulham, west London where a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death this morning. The Metropolitan Police said it was called “to reports of a fight in progress” by ambulance crews and arrived on the scene at about 12.27am. The victim was found with stab wounds and died at the scene at 12.56am despite attempts by paramedics and members of the public to save his life
PA
22/50 15 March 2019
Schoolchildren gather around Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace as they take part in a student climate protest in London. Thousands of pupils from schools, colleges and universities across the UK will walk out in the second major strike against climate change this year. Young people nationwide are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency and take action. Similar strikes are taking place around the world today including in Japan and Australia, inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who criticised world leaders at a United Nations climate conference
Getty
23/50 14 March 2019
Families of those killed during Bloody Sunday march through Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Public Prosecution Service announced only one former British soldier is to be put on trial in connection with his role in the shootings that left 13 people dead in Derry on 30 January 1972. Families of those killed gathered outside The Museum of Free Derry, yards from where the killings took place, before marching to the city centre hotel to hear the announcement
Charles McQuillan
Getty
24/50 13 March 2019
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street as he heads to the House of Commons, to deliver his Spring Statement. He announced he was slashing the UK growth forecast and warned no-deal Brexit will destroy pledge to end austerity
PA
25/50 12 March 2019
British Synchronised swimmers Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, attempting to recreate their World Championship routine in a pool filled with plastic for The Big Bang Fair challenge, opening this week at the NEC Birmingham. The campaign for the Big Bang competition, which is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people in the UK has been created to help highlight how the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped in the world’s oceans every year affects marine life
PA
26/50 11 March 2019
Snow surrounds the Tan Hill pub in North Yorkshire
PA
27/50 10 March 2019
A man feeds food to dogs during the ‘Brexit Dogs Dinner’ protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London
Reuters
28/50 9 March 2019
Protesters from the climate change pressure group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate by pouring fake blood onto the street outside Downing Street in London
Reuters
29/50 8 March 2019
A woman runs with her Komondor dog as it is judged in a show ring on the second day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
AFP/Getty
30/50 7 March 2019
Scaffolding which has blown down in strong winds in Hampstead, north London
Robert Berg/Twitter/PA Wire
31/50 6 March 2019
Police and bomb disposal services outside the University of Glasgow after the building was evacuated when a suspect package was found in the mailroom
PA
32/50 5 March 2019
Police officers secure the scene where a suspicious package was found near Waterloo railway station. Other packages were also found at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, with the police saying they were bombs. Counterterror officers are investigating the three devices as linked following a series of evacuations. One of the packages opened by office staff at Heathrow Airport burst into flames. Scotland Yard did not rule out the existence of other bombs. “The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – have been assessed by specialist officers to be small improvised explosive devices,” a spokesperson said. “These devices, at this early stage of the investigation, appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened. “The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command is treating the incidents as a linked series and is keeping an open mind regarding motives.”
Reuters
33/50 4 March 2019
Large waves crash over the sea walls at Cleveleys near Blackpool, as the remains of Storm Freya, which has battered Britain with gales, heavy rain and snow causes widespread travel disruption
PA
34/50 3 March 2019
Christopher Hepworth with partner Tanisha Prince (right) on their way to victory in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey
PA
35/50 2 March 2019
Police officers search near the scene on St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill, east London following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Friday night. Police were called to reports of a knife attack in the Romford area by the ambulance service at 9.25pm. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene just over an hour later. Her next of kin have been informed and detectives from the Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation
PA
36/50 1 March 2019
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Niamh Emerson celebrate after winning gold and silver medals in the women’s pentathlon at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Getty
37/50 28 February 2019
A painting, believed to be the second version of “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is picutred during a photocall in London following its restoration. – The 400-year-old canvas — depicting the beheading of an Assyrian general, Holofernes, by Judith from the biblical Book of Judith — was found in 2014 when the owners of a house near the southwestern city of Toulouse in France, were investigating a leak in the ceiling. It is a burst of violence painted in haunting tones by a Renaissance master worth at least $100 million — or yet another fake distressing the art world.
AFP/Getty
38/50 27 February 2019
Dozens of firefighters worked through the night to battle a major moorland blaze in West Yorkshire. More than 1.5sq km of Saddleworth Moor was ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the UK’s hottest winter day on record
Reuters
39/50 26 February 2019
Alastair Cook after he received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace
PA
40/50 25 February 2019
Nobby the polar bear cools down at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park during unseasonably warm weather. The park was covered in a blanket of snow at the end of February 2018 as the UK was hit by sub-zero temperatures. Forecasters have said that after this weekend’s warm weather, temperatures later this week should return to normal
PA
41/50 24 February 2019
Olivia Colman won the best actress in a leading role award for ‘The Favourite’ at the 91st Academy Awards in Hollywood
PA
42/50 23 February 2019
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson seen on the big screen as he addresses a protest over the BBC’s Panorama programme outside the BBC in MediaCityUK, Salford
PA
43/50 22 February 2019
A girl takes a photo of her dog with daffodils in St James’s Park in London
PA
44/50 21 February 2019
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
Reuters
45/50 20 February 2019
Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, (middle row, left to right) Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey, (front row, left to right) Sarah Woollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan, following a press conference for the Independent Group where the three Conservative MPs, Woollaston, Allen and Soubry, announced their resignation from the party
PA
46/50 19 February 2019
A full moon sets near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside as the sun begins to rise, ahead of the super snow moon on Tuesday evening
PA
47/50 18 February 2019
MP Chuka Umunna speaks during the announcement of his resignation, along with a group of six other Labour MPs, including, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Ann Coffey and Gavin Shuker and who will be known as the Independent Group
PA
48/50 17 February 2019
Climate change activists block the road as part of an Extinction Rebellion protest outside a London Fashion Week event at Tate Britain in London, calling on the fashion industry to use its influence to help to create a sustainable world.
PA
49/50 16 February 2019
Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest over BP and Iraq at the British Museum in London, Britain
Reuters
50/50 15 February 2019
Schoolchildren take part in a student climate march in Parliament Square in London. Thousands of UK pupils from schools, colleges and universities will walk out for a nationwide climate change strike. Students in 60 cities from the West Country to Scotland are protesting, urging the government to declare a climate emergency and take action over the problem. They are keen that the national curriculum is reformed and the environmental crisis is communicated to the public. Similar strikes have taken place in Australia and in European countries such as Belgium and Sweden
Getty
Just 1,425 (15 per cent) paid female employees more than male staff. And 900 companies (9 per cent) reported no difference in pay between male and female employees.
Almost 3,000 companies (27 per cent) paid women over 20 per cent less than men based on median hourly pay. Just 118 companies (1.1 per cent) paid women over 20 per cent more than men.
And the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men in nearly half of companies over the past year, according to analysis by the BBC.
Of the firms that had filed comparison data before the deadline, 45 per cent reported wider pay gaps in favour of men than last year. Nearly a quarter favoured women and the rest reported no difference, according to the BBC.
The median pay gap is calculated by comparing the difference in pay between the middle-ranking female employee and middle-ranking male employee in the same companies.
It differs from equal pay, which means that women and men carrying out jobs of equal value must be paid the same. Equal pay has been a legal requirement for almost 50 years.
Among the worst offenders was EasyJet which reported a gap of 47.9 per cent, up from 45.5 per cent last year, an increase the airline put down to the recruitment of more female cabin crew over the last year.
Several banks again revealed some of the largest gaps. Barclays Bank reported a 44.1 per cent pay gap while Lloyds Bank’s was 41.7 per cent, falling to 32.8 per cent across the whole Lloyds group.
Kwikfit saw a swing of nearly 30 per cent towards higher pay for male employees. While last year the gap was 15.2 per cent in favour of women, this year the average man earned 14 per cent more than the average woman.
The car servicing and repair company blamed this change on a number of senior staff leaving their jobs.
A number of women’s fashion companies also filed large gaps, including Sweaty Betty, which reported a 66.6 per cent pay gap in favour of male employees. The company said that the low numbers of men working at the business has skewed its figures.
Karen Millen reported a 53 per cent pay gap in favour of men, an increase of four per cent since last year.
The way the government requires companies to report the gender pay gap has attracted criticism because only a summary of the data has to be published, meaning it cannot be independently scrutinised.
Around 9 per cent of companies have reported they have a zero gender pay gap, a proportion which statisticians have said is suspiciously large.
Sam Smethers, chief executive at The Fawcett Society, said it was “disappointing but not surprising” that a large number of employers had failed to close the gap between men’s and women’s pay.
“The regulations are not tough enough,” Ms Smethers said. “It’s time for action plans not excuses.
“Employers need to set out a five year strategy for how they will close their gender pay gaps, monitoring progress and results.
“The government needs to require employers to publish action plans that we can hold them accountable to, with meaningful sanctions in place for those who do not comply.”
Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, agreed that big employers are “not doing enough to tackle the root causes of pay inequality” and urged the government to increase pressure on these companies to address this disparity.
She said: “Companies shouldn’t just be made to publish their gender pay gaps, they should be legally required to explain how they’ll close them. And bosses who flout the law should be fined.
“We can’t allow another generation of women to spend their whole working lives waiting to be paid the same as men.”
Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said businesses cannot close the gap by themselves, adding: “Many of the causes lie outside the workplace including a lack of affordable, high-quality childcare and better careers advice.
“Companies and government working together remains the best way to deliver the long-term, lasting change that’s needed.”
Penny Mordaunt, minister for women and equalities, said: “Actions to tackle the gender pay gap are good for business. That’s why we have produced support to help employers close their gaps.
“We recognise that in order to close the gap entirely we still need a much wider cultural change; that is why we have introduced a range of initiatives to tackle the drivers of the gap, including shared parental leave and spending around £6bn on childcare support.”
“Over the past year, the Government Equalities Office [GEO] has been working with employers in a number of sectors to encourage them to put in place detailed and effective action plans to reduce their pay gap.”
This is the second year that the GEO has collected pay gap data for companies with over 250 employees.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has said it would take enforcement action against all firms that missed this year’s deadline.
It is thought that a quarter of companies filed their gender pay gap figures in the last 36 hours before the deadline, according to the BBC.
The latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that the median gender pay gap is 17.9 per cent across all companies, including those with fewer than 250 employees.
