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Gender pay gap reporting

Gender pay gap reporting is creating fairer, more productive workplaces by highlighting inequality.

What is the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap is the difference in earnings between men and women across an entire workforce.  This is different from equal pay, which is about men and women earning the same amount for a specific role.

In Scotland, in 2023, the median hourly earnings for women were 8.7% less than for men.  Across the whole UK they were 14.3% less.

The existence of the pay gap can indicate there are biases in the recruitment, training and promotion of staff.  These biases can be specific to an organisation, while others can affect an entire industry.  By measuring the pay gap and taking action, organisations can become fairer and more productive.

The UK was one of the first countries to introduce mandatory gender pay gap reporting.

Support for employers

There is UK Government guidance to support employers on gender pay gap reporting, including preparing your data and making your calculations.

There is also support to help employers to understand and address the causes of their gap.

Reporting service

Anyone can explore and compare this data for organisations in the UK.

This includes the average difference between hourly and bonus pay.  You can also find the percentage of men and women in the highest, middle and lowest pay groups in a company.

Employers with 250 or more employees have published their figures comparing men and women’s average pay across the organisation.