Gender pay gap narrows slightly as ‘glacial’ pace of change continues

Difference closes by 0.2 percentage points, as experts warn pay inequality could take ‘more than a generation’ to eradicate

The gender pay gap among British employers narrowed marginally, as the difference between the median hourly pay of men and women fell to 8.2 per cent.

This compared with 8.4 per cent in the 2024/25 reporting period, according to gender pay gap data submitted to the government. The 0.2 percentage point improvement means that, on average, women were paid 92p for every £1 earned by men. 

Since 2017, all businesses with 250 staff or more are required to publish their gender pay gap figures. More than 15,600 employers had submitted their data as of 7 April, with 114 missing the deadlines of 4 April for private sector employers and 30 March for public organisations.

Justine Woolf, director of consulting at pay and reward consultancy consultancy Innecto, said the “glacial pace of change” means that the gender pay gap could take “more than a generation to completely eradicate”. 

“Women are still not represented in the highest-paying roles,” she added. “The childhood penalty, caring responsibilities and structure of work need a fundamental rethink to close the gap.”

The gender pay gap remained stubbornly high in the banking sector. All four of the UK’s biggest highstreet banks reported median hourly gender pay gaps in excess of 25 per cent.

HSBC’s gender pay gap increased to 45.3 per cent in 2025 – up from 44.9 per cent in 2024. The bank attributed this disparity to the fact that women outnumber men in junior positions. 

Two-thirds (67 per cent) of senior positions are held by men, while 65 per cent of junior roles in the UK are occupied by women. 

An HSBC spokesperson said: “We have made consistent progress towards improving our gender pay gap and increasing female representation in senior leadership, although we recognise there is still more work to do. We are focusing on strengthening our hiring, promotion, retention and performance strategies to support inclusivity and fairness for all colleagues.”

Lloyds Banking Group’s pay gap reduced by 0.5 percentage points to 35 per cent. Women’s median bonus pay was also 31.9 per cent lower than men’s, although more women than men received a bonus in 2025. 

Barclays’ median hourly pay gap dropped to 27.7 per cent and NatWest cut its gender pay gap slightly to 25.8 per cent.

Consumer goods company Unilever was one of the few large employers which had a gender pay gap that widened in favour of women. On average, women were paid 8.5 per cent more than men per hour on average in 2025, an increase of 3.7 percentage points on the previous year.

Marc Woodward, head of Unilever UK said: “In 2025, we continued to make meaningful progress in closing the gender pay gap. We remain focused on providing a workplace where women feel supported, empowered and able to build their careers, reinforcing our enduring commitment to helping talent thrive.”

Why has progress been so slow?
The median gender pay gap across British employers has only closed by 1.1 percentage points in the nine years since reporting became mandatory in 2017.

Michelle Gyimah is pay gaps strategist at Equality Pays, an organisation that helps medium-sized businesses develop action plans to close their pay gaps. She said that many companies are continuing to do the legal minimum and are not implementing plans to reach gender pay equality.

"The problem is that a number without context is meaningless," she said. "Organisations serious about change should be looking beyond their gender pay gap and seeking to find out what's causing it. Is it a pipeline problem, a retention problem or a promotion problem? Has it moved in the past three years and, if so, why or why not?"

From this year, organisations have the option to submit a gender pay gap action plan alongside their figures, which will detail how employers are addressing pay disparities and improving gender equality.

The government intends to make this a mandatory requirement from spring 2027, subject to secondary legislation under the Employment Rights Act.

When assessing how to reduce the gender pay gap, Woolf advised: “Organisations need to consider the blockers to equal gender distribution at all levels – especially at senior levels – and be prepared to be flexible and creative with job design and expectations.”

It's also important to note that progress is not only reflected in the average difference in pay between men and women. Gyimah added: "Organisations that are genuinely doing the work know that progress in year one might show up as better female retention through the mid-career years, or a meaningful increase in shared parental leave uptake by men."

A similar reporting requirement is set to be established for ethnicity and disability pay gaps. Proposed measures will require employers with 250 or more staff to publish average differences in pay and bonuses based on employees’ ethnicity and disability status. Organisations will also be expected to produce action plans to address any pay disparities.

You can find the original post on People Management website published on 6th April 2026 here.