New analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) highlights that, on average, women effectively work without pay for close to two months (48 working days) per year. This is due to the gender pay gap, which currently stands at 13.1% in the UK across all employees (down from 14.3% last year). As a result, this year’s “Women’s Pay Day” (the date women have to wait for before they stop working for free) was 16 February 2025, which equates to 52 days of free labour.
According to the TUC, this disparity is partly driven by the fact that women are more inclined to work part-time and/or not get promoted to accommodate caregiving responsibilities, which in turn affects their earnings.
Gender pay gaps across industries
Since the introduction of gender pay gap reporting in 2017, progress has been slow despite efforts to close the gap, with significant differences persisting across various sectors:
- In health and social care, the gender pay gap stands at 11.2%, meaning women work for free for 41 days until 9 February 2025.
- In the information and communication industry, there is a 16.7% gap, so women work without pay for 61 days until 3 March 2025.
- The finance and insurance sector has the largest pay gap at 29.8%. This means women in this sector work the equivalent of 109 unpaid days, with their earnings only beginning on 19 April 2025.
Analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released in October 2024 confirms that the gender pay gap varies significantly by occupation. In April 2024, the highest gender pay gap was observed in skilled trade occupations, whilst the lowest was in caring, leisure and other service occupations. Notably, technical and associate professional occupations recorded the largest increase in the gender pay gap between April 2023 and April 2024, rising by 1.5%.
Gender pay gap by age
The TUC’s findings indicate that the gender pay gap affects women throughout their careers, widening as they age. Middle-aged and older women experience the most significant disparities, with those aged 50-59 having the highest pay gap (18.9%).
Regional gender pay gaps
Some regions experience even larger gender pay gaps, pushing their Women’s Pay Day further into the year.
According to the ONS, the gender pay gap remains higher in every English region than in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The regions with the largest gender pay gap were London and the South East, partially due to a higher proportion of high-earning roles in these areas.
Commentary
The Employment Rights Bill, if passed in its current form, would require large employers to publish an equality action plan setting out how they will close their gender pay gaps, rather than just reporting what the gap is for their organisation. The government is hopeful that this will drive meaningful progress in addressing gender pay disparities. Similarly, employers would have to include in their equality action plan details of the steps they take to support employees going through menopause. The government’s goal is to help employers retain and advance women in the workforce throughout all stages of their careers.
If you have or expect to have more than 250 employees and do not already have an action plan for closing your gender pay gap, or any measures to support employees going through menopause, you will need to work on putting one in place. Many employers already publish an action plan alongside their gender pay gap data and you may wish to consider publishing your plan before it becomes a legal requirement. It makes sense to start implementing your plan before you are required to do so.
