UK Gender Pay Gap 2026

The detail

ONS reports the median gender pay gap three ways: full-time only (6.9% in April 2025, down from 7.1% in 2024), part-time only (-2.9% — women earn slightly more), and all employees (12.8%, down from 13.1% in 2024). The "all employees" number is widest because women disproportionately do part-time work, which has lower hourly pay than full-time after the self-selection.

By age the full-time gap in April 2025 was: 0.9% at 22-29, 3.9% at 30-39, 9.1% at 40-49, 12.5% at 50-59, and 12.6% at 60+. This widening with age is mainly attributed to childcare-driven career interruptions and reduced-hours arrangements — not to pay discrimination at any single point in a career. UK-born mothers face a "motherhood penalty" of roughly 20% lower long-term earnings vs comparable non-mothers (IFS research).

The full-time gap has been decreasing slowly over time; ONS reports it has fallen by more than a quarter over the last decade to 6.9% in 2025. Progress has slowed recently, as the easy compositional wins (more women in senior roles) give way to harder structural issues (childcare costs, part-time availability in senior roles). Mandatory gender pay gap reporting for employers with 250+ staff has applied since 2017.

The gap is larger for higher-paid employees and for those aged 40 and over, and it varies by occupation - ONS highlights larger gaps in skilled trades and process-plant roles than in most other major occupation groups.