The gender pay gap in the United Kingdom won't close for another 30 years at the current rate of progress, with men in the country currently making an average of nearly 13% more than their female counterparts in the same industries each year.
According to a report released by the Trades Union Congress on February 15, the average annual pay gap between men and women in the U.K. sits at £2,548 ($3,455), meaning that, essentially, the average woman works for 47 days of the year for free.
“Imagine turning up to work every single day and not getting paid — that’s the reality of the gender pay gap," said TUC general secretary Paul Nowak. "In 2026 that should be unthinkable."
The gap also gets wider with age, growing from 16.2% for women aged 40-49, to 19.7% for women between 50 and 59. The TUC says that's likely due to the fact that more women than men take on unpaid responsibilities later in life — such as caring for children, grandchildren or older relatives — while there's a noted lack of high-paying, flexible jobs to accommodate that lifestyle shift.
The pay gap differs across industries as well, coming in at 10.5% for wholesale and retail, 12.8% for healthcare and social work, and 17% for education jobs . The widest gap is found in finance and insurance, where men make 27.2% more than their female counterparts.
Addressing the issue will take a multi-faceted approach, the TUC noted, although the recently approved Employment Rights Act represents a good start. Over the next two years of phased implementation, the ERA will ban so-called "zero-hour contracts" that had allowed employers to not establish minimum working hours, and require employers to publish action plans regarding efforts to address their own gender pay gaps. Moving forward, the TUC said that the government must also reform its parental leave policies to make it so mothers and fathers can better share care following the birth of a child.
