It will take another 40 years to close the gender pay gap in the UK at the current rate of progress, according to an analysis of published pay gap reports.

Pensions and reward company Isio looked at publicly available data from 10,000 companies, and found that it will be 2065 when median hourly pay for men and women reaches equality.

In the last reporting year of 2023-24, women were paid an average of 12.5% less per hour than men – the lowest pay gap since mandatory reporting was introduced in 2017, it found.

This gap is significantly higher than the average gender pay gap across all employers (not just those with more than 250 employees), which was 7% in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Isio found that the proportion of men and women in the highest pay quartile remains unevenly split, with 59% men compared to only 41% women.

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Isio’s analysis also found significant sectoral differences in gender pay, with the financial and insurance sectors reporting an average gap of 23%, with more than 85% of employers in this sector having a gap greater than 10%.

Other sectors with high gender pay gaps include construction, information and communication, mining and science, where the hourly pay gap exceeds 10% in more than 70% of companies.

In contrast, sectors such as public administration and defence are closer to achieving equality, with less than a quarter of employers in these sectors having a pay gap greater than 10%.

Isio also found that almost a quarter (23%) of reporting organisations had either experienced no change in hourly pay gap, or have seen it worsen since 2017.

As part of the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill, organisations eligible for gender pay gap reporting will have to publish action plans on how they plan to close the gap.

These new obligations will sit alongside requirements to report ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

Mark Jones, reward and benefits partner at Isio, said there is “still a long way to go” in terms of progress.

“While many businesses have introduced policies to accelerate change, this will take time to feed through in the data and reduce their gender pay gaps.

“The introduction of mandatory reporting has been a positive step and sets a good example for employers determined to take further action.

“Proactive employers are embedding diversity and inclusion into their core business strategies and taking concrete steps to close the gap by improving transparency, and developing action plans that go beyond the current reporting requirements.”

 

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