UK Gender Pay Gap May Not Close Until 2056, Warns Major Union Federation

A stark projection from one of the UK’s leading union bodies suggests that progress on equal pay has stalled. According to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), at the current rate of reduction, the national gender pay gap will not be eliminated for another three decades, potentially lasting until 2056. This prediction underscores a systemic issue that persists despite decades of awareness and legislative efforts, affecting women’s financial security, career progression, and the broader economy.

Key Points: The State of the UK Gender Pay Gap

The TUC’s analysis, based on official government data, provides a sobering snapshot of pay inequality in 2024. The core findings reveal a disparity that is both wide and deeply ingrained across the economy.

Overall Gap: The mean gender pay gap across all UK employees stands at 12.8%. This translates to women earning, on average, £2,548 less per year than their male counterparts for full-time work.
Unpaid Labor Equivalent: This gap means the average female worker effectively works for 47 days per year without pay compared to the average male worker. The TUC vividly describes this as women “working for free for the first month and a half of the year.”
Industry Extremes: The gap varies dramatically by sector. It is widest in the Finance and Insurance industry at a staggering 27.2%. Conversely, it is narrowest in the Accommodation and Food Services sector at 1.5%.
Female-Dominated Sectors: Shockingly, industries where women form the majority of the workforce still exhibit significant pay gaps. In Education, the gap is 17%, and in Health and Social Care, it is 12.8%.
Age Disparity: The gender pay gap is most pronounced for workers aged 50-59. The TUC links this to the long-term financial penalties women face from taking career breaks or reducing hours for caregiving responsibilities earlier in their careers.

Background: Understanding the Gender Pay Gap

Definition vs. Equal Pay

It is critical to distinguish the gender pay gap from the concept of equal pay. Equal pay is a legal requirement mandating that men and women performing the same job, or work of equal value, receive identical pay. The gender pay gap is a broader macroeconomic measure. It compares the median or mean average hourly earnings of all working men against all working women, regardless of their specific role, seniority, or hours worked. A gap can exist even if equal pay laws are perfectly followed, reflecting underlying societal, occupational, and structural inequalities.

Legal Reporting Framework in the UK

Since 2017, UK employers with 250 or more employees have been legally required to publish annual gender pay gap data. This transparency measure covers mean and median hourly pay gaps, bonus gaps, and the proportion of men and women in each pay quartile. While intended to shine a light on disparities and encourage action, the TUC argues that reporting alone has not driven change fast enough, as evidenced by the stagnant closure rate.

Analysis: Root Causes and Sectoral Breakdown

The persistence of a 12.8% national gap is not a simple issue with a single cause. The TUC and other experts point to a complex interplay of factors that compound over a woman’s career.

The “Motherhood Penalty” and Caregiving Responsibilities

The single most significant driver identified is the unequal burden of unpaid care work. Women are far more likely to reduce their hours, take part-time roles, or exit the workforce entirely to care for children or elderly relatives. This leads to:

Loss of experience and seniority: Career breaks disrupt progression, resulting in fewer promotions and lower lifetime earnings.
Segregation into lower-paid, part-time work: Many flexible, part-time roles are concentrated in lower-paid sectors and lack career advancement pathways.
Long-term wage scarring: The pay penalty from a career break can persist for years, explaining the severe gap for the 50-59 age cohort.

Occupational Segregation

Women and men are often clustered in different types of jobs and industries—a phenomenon known as horizontal segregation. “Feminized” sectors like education, health, and social care are systematically undervalued and underpaid compared to male-dominated fields like finance, engineering, and technology, even when requiring similar skill levels. This is a key reason for the gap in female-majority industries.

Vertical Segregation and the “Glass Ceiling”

Vertical segregation refers to the underrepresentation of women in senior, high-paying leadership and executive roles. The pay gap data often shows a “pyramid” effect: while entry-level gaps may be smaller, they widen dramatically at management and director levels due to biases in promotion, sponsorship, and negotiation.

The Finance Sector: A Case Study in Extreme Disparity

The 27.2% gap in Finance and Insurance highlights how high-reward, male-dominated cultures can perpetuate extreme inequality. Factors here include aggressive bonus structures that may favor men, long hours incompatible with primary caregiving, and historical networks that exclude women from top deals and clients.

Practical Advice: Pathways to Closing the Gap

Achieving pay parity requires coordinated action from government, employers, and individuals. The TUC and other advocates propose a multi-pronged strategy.

For Employers

Conduct Mandatory Pay Audits: Go beyond legal reporting to analyze pay by gender, ethnicity, and working pattern within comparable roles. Identify and rectify unexplained disparities.
Implement Transparent Pay Structures: Use clear, objective criteria for setting salaries and bands. Publish salary ranges on job adverts to reduce negotiation bias.
Normalize Flexible & Hybrid Working: Offer flexible hours and remote work options at all levels, especially senior roles, to support caregivers (of all genders).
Support Career Progression: Create sponsorship programs for women, ensure diverse shortlists for promotions, and provide return-to-work programs after career breaks.
Invest in Childcare Support: Provide subsidized childcare vouchers, on-site nurseries, or childcare assistance to reduce the financial and logistical burden on parents.

For Government and Policymakers

Strengthen Reporting Requirements: Extend mandatory gap reporting to employers with 50+ employees and require employers to publish action plans with concrete steps and deadlines to address their gaps.
Reform Parental Leave: Implement a fully transferable, well-paid parental leave entitlement (e.g., 18 weeks at a decent wage) to encourage equal take-up by mothers and fathers, normalizing caregiving for both.
Invest in Affordable, Quality Childcare: Significant public investment is needed to cap childcare costs and increase availability, making it a viable option for working parents.
Enhance Enforcement: Empower the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to proactively investigate sectors with persistent large gaps and impose meaningful penalties for non-compliance with equal pay laws.
Promote Living Wages: Raise the National Living Wage and support sectoral bargaining, as low pay disproportionately affects women in caring and service roles.

For Individuals and Trade Unions

Know Your Worth: Research salary benchmarks for your role, industry, and location. Use resources like the ONS, Glassdoor, and professional associations.
Practice Negotiation: Prepare thoroughly for salary discussions, focusing on value and achievements rather than previous salary.
Join or Support Unions: Collective bargaining is one of the most effective tools for securing fair pay scales, transparent progression, and better conditions that support work-life balance.
Challenge Bias: Advocate for yourself and colleagues. Question pay decisions, promotion criteria, and the allocation of high-visibility projects.

FAQ: Common Questions About the Gender Pay Gap

Is the gender pay gap the same as unequal pay for the same job?

No. Unequal pay is illegal and refers to paying a man and woman differently for “like work,” work rated as equivalent, or work of equal value. The gender pay gap is the overall average difference in pay across an entire organization or economy. It can exist without any individual cases of illegal equal pay violations, driven instead by occupational segregation, part-time work patterns, and lack of women in top jobs.

Why is the gap so large in sectors like finance?

The finance sector combines several factors: a high proportion of very large bonuses (often discretionary and prone to bias), a historic “long hours” culture that disadvantages caregivers, and a significant lack of women in senior managing director and partner roles where the highest compensation is earned. Client-facing networks and informal promotion processes can also perpetuate exclusion.

Does the gap exist for younger workers?

Interestingly, the gap is typically smallest for the youngest full-time employees (often under 30). This suggests that early-career pay may be more equitable. However, the gap begins to widen significantly in the 30-39 and 40-49 age brackets, correlating directly with the typical age of first child and the ensuing impact on career patterns. The peak gap for 50-59-year-olds reflects the cumulative, lifelong effect of these earlier disruptions.

What is the government doing about it?

The UK government’s approach centers on transparency (mandatory reporting) and promoting flexible working. It has also consulted on reforms to parental leave and childcare. However, the TUC and campaign groups argue these steps are insufficiently ambitious and lack the mandatory action plans and stronger enforcement needed to meet the target of closing the gap within a generation. The recent Employment Rights Act is cited as a positive step for broader worker protections but not specifically targeted enough at pay equity.

How does the UK compare internationally?

According to the OECD, the UK’s unadjusted gender pay gap (around 12-13%) is slightly above the OECD average of approximately 11%. Countries like Iceland, Norway, and Finland, with strong collective bargaining, generous parental leave, and affordable childcare, consistently report smaller gaps, often below 8%. This suggests that policy choices, particularly around care infrastructure and labor market institutions, have a direct impact.

Conclusion: A Call for Urgent, Systemic Action

The TUC’s projection of a 2056 closure date for the gender pay gap is not a fateful prediction but a critique of current policy and business practice. It signals that voluntary measures and transparency alone have failed to dismantle the deep-seated structural barriers that disadvantage women throughout their careers. The persistence of a double-digit gap, even in female-dominated professions, proves this is not merely a “women’s issue” but a fundamental flaw in how work is valued and organized.

Closing the gap requires moving beyond diagnosis to aggressive, systemic treatment. This means legally mandating action plans from employers, fundamentally reforming parental leave to encourage shared caregiving, and making a massive public investment in affordable childcare. It requires challenging the societal devaluation of “women’s work” and building career pathways that are compatible with family life for all genders. The economic cost of inaction is enormous, representing a massive waste of talent and potential. With the cost-of-living crisis intensifying, the argument that women can no longer afford to wait is both moral and economic. The goal must be to compress the timeline from 30 years to one, ensuring pay parity is a reality for the next generation, not a distant hope for the one after.