A new report has shown the pay gap may not close for 30 more years
The gender pay gap will not close for another 30 years at the current rate of progress, according to a new report. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said its analysis showed that the average woman effectively works for 47 days of the year for free and only starts earning from today, compared to the average man.
The union organisation said the gender pay gap currently stands at 12.8%, the equivalent of £2,548 a year for the average woman worker. That means that at current rates of progress, it will take until 2056 to close the gender pay gap.
The pay gap in education is 17%. In the finance and insurance sector, it rises to 27.2%, the TUC said.
General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Women have effectively been working for free for the first month and a half of the year compared to men. Imagine turning up to work every single day and not getting paid.
“That’s the reality of the gender pay gap. In 2026 that should be unthinkable. With the cost of living still biting hard, women simply can’t afford to keep losing out. They deserve their fair share.”
He added: “The Employment Rights Act is an important step forward for pay parity for women. It will ban exploitative zero hours contracts, which disproportionately hit women and their pay packets.
“It will make employers publish action plans for tackling their gender gaps, but these plans must be tough, ambitious and built to deliver real change, otherwise they won’t work.”
According to gov.uk, the gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women in an organisation. Any employer with 250 or more employees on a specific date each year must report their gender pay gap data.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2025 figures show that the gender pay gap has been decreasing slowly over time. Over the last decade, it has fallen by more than a quarter among full-time employees, and in April 2025, it stood at 6.9%, down from 7.1% in April 2024.
Men in full-time employment earned more than women in full-time employment in all major occupation groups in April 2025. The gender pay gap is larger for employees aged 40 years and over than for those aged under 40 years.
The gender pay gap is larger among high-paid employees than among lower-paid employees, and women employees’ share in high-paying occupations decreases with age. The gender pay gap among full-time employees was higher in every English region than it was in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, in April 2025.
The gender pay gap is different from equal pay. Equal pay is covered by the Equality Act 2010, and requires employers to pay men and women the same for work of equal value.
