THE UK gender pay gap among managers is highest in the English Midlands, with men paid almost a third more than their female counterparts, while it is at its lowest in Scotland, at 21.5 per cent, new research shows.
An analysis of managers’ salaries by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, found that male managers there were paid £12,707 more than women.
The average salary of a female manager in the Midlands is £30,038, including bonuses and commission, compared to £42,745 for men, according to the report.
The average male manager across the UK is paid 26.8 per cent more than female colleagues.
This is the first time that pay gap data, compiled by XpertHR, has been published taking into account the UK Government’s new reporting regulations. Since April, large employers (250+ employees) must now publicly disclose the size of their gender pay gap. To date, just 72 out of the 7850 UK companies to which the new law applies have fulfilled their obligations.
The research reveals the gender pay gap now stands at 26.8 per cent for the UK’s 3.3 million managers – an average £11,606 per year, and it increases to £34,144 for director-level positions.
This gap is nearly £3000 bigger than previously understood. This includes salary and bonuses, as well as perks such as car allowance and commission.
Previous analyses of the pay gap based on managers’ basic salaries had put the gap at 23.1 per cent last year, or £8964.
CMI’s chief executive Ann Francke said: “Too many businesses are like ‘glass pyramids’ with women holding the majority of lower-paid junior roles and far fewer reaching the top.
“We now see those extra perks of senior management roles are creating a gender pay gap wider than previously understood.
“The picture is worst at the top, with male chief executives cashing in bonuses six times larger than female counterparts.
Francke added: “Time for more companies to step up and put plans in place to fix this issue. It’s essential if UK companies are to survive and thrive in the post-Brexit world.”
The study reveals women are far more likely to fill junior management positions than men (66 per cent vs 34 per cent), and men much more likely to occupy senior positions (26 per cent of director-level roles occupied by women, 74 per cent by men).
While salary and bonuses are picking up for both men and women, the benefits are going disproportionately to men. Male directors picked up a 5.8 per cent increase in pay and bonuses, compared to 3.7 per cent for women (compared to 4.0 and 3.3 per cent respectively last year).
For managers, men outpaced women by 3.7 to 3.5 per cent (whereas they took home 3.0 and 3.2 per cent increases the year before).
That means a real-terms widening of the gender pay gap for many managers.
XpertHR content director Mark Crail said: “We have always known that the gender pay gap appears to widen with seniority. These results enable us to quantify the gap using a large volume of reliable, checked and verified pay data, drawn directly from employer payroll systems. Some people have tried to explain the gender pay gap away as being the result of different working hours or individual career choices. But when the analysis is based on the pay of more than 100,000 individuals in well over 400 organisations, it is clear that the pay gap is a very real fact of life for UK managers.”
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