Gender pay gap: findings from 2023 reporting

Author: Sheila Attwood

This year marks the seventh time that organisations have had to report their gender pay and bonus gaps. While many still leave this to the very end of the reporting year, is progress nonetheless being made on closing these gaps? We look at the latest data.

This Gapsquare analysis - based on all organisations that had uploaded their data to the government portal by 9am on 5 April 2024 - finds that the median gender pay gap was 9.1% in 2023. This marks only a very small decline from the (revised) 9.2% recorded for 2022. Overall, since reporting began, the median gender pay gap has declined just 0.2 percentage points from 9.3% in 2017 (although not based on a matched sample).

Greater progress has been made on the value of bonuses, where the median gap has reduced to 14.1% from 19.4% in 2017. The proportion of male and female employees receiving a bonus has almost reached parity (27.6% and 26.6% respectively).

Here, we look at some of the key findings from the latest reported data.

Just half of organisations have reduced their pay gap

While overall the gender pay gap has reduced, not all organisations have made progress. Of the 10,410 organisations that submitted data for 2023, 9,735 also reported for 2022, allowing us to track their progress in this area. Among this matched sample, 49% have reduced their median gender pay gap. By broad sector, organisations in the public services sector are most likely to report a positive movement (53.1%). Outside of the public sector, agriculture and forestry organisations reported the most progress, with 56.4% of organisations reducing the pay gap, compared with 41.1% of facilities, security and support employers.

Much slower progress is evident on closing the gender bonus gap. Three in 10 (31.9%) organisations have recorded a reduction in the median bonus gap since the previous year, although progress was greatest in the finance sector, where 46.2% of organisations reported a reduction. However, as we see below, the finance sector continues to report the highest median gender bonus gap.

Headline gender pay gap figures

  • Median gender pay gap - 9.1%
  • Median gender bonus gap - 14.1%
  • Proportion of the top quartile pay band that are women - 40.0%
  • Proportion of the bottom quartile pay band that are women - 56.7%

Pay and bonus gaps continue to favour men in the majority of organisations

The vast majority (78.4%) of organisations have reported a median gender pay gap that favours males, just slightly down on the (revised) 78.9% for 2022.

We see a different picture when we look at the median gender bonus gap, which is reported in favour of males in 47.3% of organisations. We have also seen above that there is almost parity in the proportion of males and females receiving a bonus across the whole sample. However, this picture is not replicated across all industries. While the finance sector reports that a median 85.3% of males and 85% of females received a bonus, it also reports the largest gender bonus gap (35.4%) and the vast majority (85.3%) of organisations report that bonuses favour male employees.

Women continue to be under-represented in the top pay quartile

Organisations must report the proportion of male and female employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands. Doing so shows the distribution of male and female employees across the organisation. Women are still over-represented in the lower pay quartile, and under-represented in the upper pay quartile, but progress is being made.

In 2023, 56.7% of the employees in the lower pay quartile were female, compared with only 40% of employees in the upper pay quartile. However, some progress is being made, with the proportion of females in the upper pay quartile increasing from 37.3% in 2017 (not based on a matched sample).

These overall figures do, however, mask some stark differences by industry sector. For example, in charities/not for profit, a median 73% of employees in the lower pay quartile are women, while in public services this rises to 76%. In private-sector services there is a more even split, with 53% of employees being female and 47% male in the quartile.

Public services organisations reporting higher pay gaps than other sectors

By broad sector, the median gender pay gap is highest in public services, at 12.1%. This compares with an 9.2% gap among manufacturing-and-production organisations, 8% in private-sector services and 2.7% among charities/not for profit organisations.

Exploring the data further, we see some distinct differences between industries, as shown below.

Table 1: Gender pay gap reporting, 2023

Industry

Median gender pay gap

Median gender bonus gap

Proportion of organisations reporting 

a gender pay gap in favour of males

Proportion of organisations reporting a

reduction in the median gender pay gap

since the previous year

Proportion of organisations reporting

a reduction in the median gender

bonus gap since the previous year

Agriculture and forestry

3.5%

10.9%

65.5%

56.4%

27.3%

Central government

7.2%

0%

82.2%

52.2%

33.3%

Chemicals, pharmaceuticals and oil

6.8%

3.1%

77.8%

50.0%

43.4%

Facilities security and support services

0.4%

0.5%

52.4%

41.1%

26.9%

Construction

23.0%

25%

92.3%

53.2%

41.1%

Electricity gas and water

10.6%

12.4%

79.3%

51.0%

38.6%

Engineering and metals

10.9%

5.5%

86.3%

51.1%

36.0%

Finance

22%

35.4%

94.8%

53.4%

46.2%

Food drink and tobacco

4.5%

0%

76.1%

44.1%

35.4%

Hotels catering and leisure

0.9%

16.0%

57.3%

45.2%

35.5%

Information and communication

15.0%

22.1%

91.7%

49.1%

42.0%

Local government

1.8%

0%

58.1%

55.0%

10.9%

General manufacturing

8.2%

5.5%

78.0%

50.4%

45.5%

Not for profit

2.7%

0%

62.9%

47.3%

14.9%

Paper and printing

11.0%

0%

84.6%

43.1%

35.4%

Professional and business services

12.0%

21.0%

81.7%

49.2%

37.7%

Public education

20.2%

0%

91.3%

51.1%

8.7%

Public health

5.0%

0%

73.6%

56.0%

31.3%

Public safety

12.3%

0%

92.0%

65.5%

31.0%

Retail and wholesale

6.0%

20.0%

73.3%

47.7%

42.7%

Transport and storage

6.6%

5.7%

80.5%

46.8%

36.2%

Source: Gapsquare analysis of Government data.

Technical notes

All employers with 250 or more employees are legally obliged to report every year on six key metrics about their gender pay gap and gender bonus gap using data inputs and calculations set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/172). The Gapsquare analysis covers key findings from the 10,410 gender pay gap report submissions published on the government website by the time we ran our analysis at 9am on 5 April 2024. Please note that this includes all organisations that have reported, some of whom have less than 250 employees.

In this resource, where we mention median, this refers to the midpoint of the reported median hourly pay rate data. Where the mean is referenced, this refers to the midpoint across the reported average (mean) hourly pay rate data. Industries have been assigned based on the standard XpertHR industry classification system.

XpertHR offers a range of resources to help organisations measure and act to reduce pay gaps:

  • Gapsquare - part of the XpertHR portfolio - offers HR and reward professionals advanced pay equity solutions to provide actionable insights on existing pay gaps through their flagship software FairPay® Pro. Advanced statistical analysis identifies variables for employee demographics such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability, identifying the causes of pay gaps, and proposing and tracking remedial actions. Gapsquare also offers a gender pay gap reporting services to guide users through the process of data collection and metric calculation to meet current UK gender pay gap reporting requirements.
  • Our gender pay gap topic page has links to XpertHR compliance and leading practice resources, including essential guidance on how to measure and report a gender pay gap.