Male workers at the Bank of England are paid almost a quarter more than female employees, according to its first gender pay gap report.
The Bank of England has revealed a gender pay gap of just over 24 per cent between the average wage of its male and female staff, citing a lack of women in senior positions as the core reason for the gaping divide.
The Bank said that median pay gap – based on the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings for men and women at the Bank – was 24.2 per cent for the year to 30 March.
For bonuses, the median gap is 25.6 per cent and the mean gap 23.6 per cent. Bonuses are paid to employees at all levels where performance objectives have been met.
“We’re confident that men and women are paid equally for doing the same job at the Bank; however, the greater proportion of men than women in senior roles creates a gender pay gap,” Carney said.
“We are working hard to address this imbalance through inclusive and diverse recruitment, including diverse shortlists and interview panels, offering flexible working, providing continual unconscious bias training, and fostering an inclusive culture. Addressing the disparity in gender representation at senior levels will take time, but it will help close the current gender pay gap at the Bank.”
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show Britain’s median gender pay gap fell to 9.1 per cent in April, from 9.4 per cent a year earlier, taking it to the lowest level since records began 20 years ago. It was 17.4 per cent in 1997, when the ONS first collected the data.
The pay gap for the UK’s financial sector stood at 35.6 per cent – considerably higher than the Bank’s figure.
Responding to the Bank’s pay gap report, Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury select committee, said more progress was needed.
“The Bank’s measures to address its pay gap seem to be on the right track, but we cannot be complacent. Any gap is still too great.”
“We may call for organisations to give evidence to the committee to hear about best practice. Financial firms should be prepared to explain any gender pay gap that they may have,”
Under legislation introduced in April 2017, any UK business with at least 250 employees will have to report the gap between what they pay their male and female staff.
Private and public sector employers, as well as charities with 250 or more employees, must publish their figures by April 2018 in an attempt to tackle workplace discrimination.
The data will eventually be available on a government database.
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
