The UK government department Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced a negative mean gender pay gap of -9.6% for 2020, with a mean gender bonus pay gap of -16.3%.
According to the FSA, the mean gender pay gap is based on the difference in the average hourly pay for women compared to men.
The report highlighted that the disparity is the largest it has been since measuring began in 2017, and this 2020 figure has widened from the -8.0% that was recorded for 2019.
The department’s median gender pay gap has also increased to -21.6%, which is larger than the -14.7% reported in 2019. Compared to the UK’s average mean gender pay gap of 6.5% and median gender pay gap of 15.9%, these results are both substantially higher.
The report also revealed the FSA’s mean gender bonus gap for 2020 is -16.3%, with 62.8% of women receiving a bonus compared to 62.9% of men. This is the highest it has been since measuring began in 2017 and is an increase from 11.8% in 2019.
The FSA explained in the report that for the first time since it started gender pay gap reporting, female employees are now the majority in the upper pay quartile, although the proportion of men and women in the upper quartiles is similar, at 48.6% and 51.4% respectively. The higher concentration of men at more junior grades where the pay is lower illustrates why there is a large negative pay gap.
“We are committed to fair pay irrespective of gender and to improving our gender pay gap. We will continue to promote policies and initiatives to support equal opportunities for our entire workforce,” the FSA stated in the report.
