Pay equality for women worse in London than rest of UK

British capital has gone from having the narrowest divide to the widest in 20 years as other UK regions posted greater improvements

female employees in London now face the widest gap in pay with men than anywhere else in Britian. Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Women working in London are paid the least relative to their male counterparts in the whole of the UK.

The gender pay gap in London is almost as big now as it was in 1997, meaning the UK capital has gone from having the narrowest divide to the widest in 20 years as other UK regions posted greater improvements, according to an office for national statistics (ONS) report published Monday.

Women working full-time in London earn 14.6 per cent less per hour than their male colleagues, compared with 15.1 per cent in 1997, the ONS said. Inequality is smallest in Northern Ireland, where women are now paid slightly more than men, Wales and Scotland.

The figures come months after the disclosure of pay disparities between male and female talent at the BBC prompted a backlash and an open letter from at least 40 women calling for action.

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Starting next year, companies with more than 250 employees in the UK will have to report how much they are paying in salaries and bonuses to their male and female staff.

In the public sector, the wage gap has stagnated in the country as a whole, with women earning 13.1 per cent less per hour, from 13.5 per cent in 1997. While the gulf is bigger in private industry, at 15.9 per cent, the sector has seen a dramatic improvement from 23.8 per cent two decades ago.

Among part-time workers, the picture is very different, with women earning more in all UK regions.

While in most cases this marks a reversal from 1997, in the south-east men working part-time men have seen faster wage growth in the past two-decades.