08 January 2018

Over 500 companies have reported on gender pay discrepancies, and the data shows a significant gap remains between the wages female and male staff receive.

The highest pay disparity was at high street retailer Phase Eight, where men are paid almost 65% more per hour than women. Elsewhere, Easyjet staff take home 53% more if they are male, while the gap stood at 33% at Virgin Money and 15% at Ladbrokes.

These are just some of the 527 firms that have published their figures so far following new legislation compelling all business with 250 or more workers to report on their gender gap by April 2018.

There are, however, no sanctions for employers who do not comply, leading to predictions that many will not cooperate with the law. Indeed, the evidence so far seems to back these suspicions up, with only 4% of eligible companies having made their reports to date.

Many of the firms that have completed their reports – which have been published on the government's website – state that their pay gaps result from a disparity in role seniority.

In a statement, Phase Eight said: "The figures result from the fact that, as a women's fashion retailer, the staff in our stores are overwhelmingly female, whilst our corporate head office staff (whose pay rates are typically higher) are more evenly split between men and women.".

The BBC reported that 39 of the firm's 44 male employees have head office roles.

Further, the news provider added that only 6% of EasyJet pilots are women, while female workers account for 69% of cabin crew staff, earning an average of £67,600 less per year. Ladbrokes Coral blamed its pay gap on "weak [female] representation at our senior levels".