The building societies sector has the largest gender pay gap in the UK, according to the latest data released by PwC research.
While the UK’s overall gender pay gap has fallen at the fastest rate since 2017, seeing a decrease from 12.9% in 2021/22 to 12.2% in 2022/23, it seems that building societies in particular have a lot of catching up to do.
With the pay gap among societies coming in at a substantial 30.1%, the sector remains significantly behind the national average.
According to PwC, nearly half (46%) of UK companies who disclosed their gender pay gaps in both 2021/22 and 2022/23 reported an increase or no change at all to their mean gender pay gap.
Over a third of companies reported pay gap changes between 0-1%, with an almost equal split between those reporting increases and those reporting decreases.
The technology sector has seen the largest year on year decrease, falling by -1.9% from 2021/22.
However, despite falling at the fastest rate in 6 years, the overall gender pay gap has only reduced by 1.2% since 2017- more work is still needed.
If the UK continues at this rate, it will take a significant amount of time to reach gender pay parity.
making impactful changes to close the gap, and that significant change may take a long time.
Katy Bennett, diversity, inclusion and equity consulting director at PwC comments: “While on the surface it is encouraging to see the most significant annual decrease in the UK’s mean gender pay gap this year, the data highlights that it is difficult for organisations to make meaningful reductions to their reporting figures.
“In order to do this businesses need to understand the underlying drivers of their pay gaps and address the root causes, such as recruitment and attrition rates, external market pay expectations and organisational structures.”
She added: “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion reporting and broader pay transparency requirements, such as the EU Pay Transparency Directive, are only getting more complex and high profile. Organisations need to demonstrate they will address the drivers of their pay gaps, moving the focus from reportable numbers to taking credible action to improve equality, inclusion and social impact.”
The lack of fluctuation in the national average pay gap figures does not highlight the full extent of fairness within an organisation.
Looking solely at the gender pay gap and ignoring other diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and fairness data, can fail to capture the full extent of fairness within an organisation.
PwC’s analysis highlights many companies are struggling to make meaningful progress on the gender pay gap and as DE&I regulations are continuing to gain momentum, organisations need to consider aligning multiple metrics to tell an accurate representation of DE&I.
