But campaigners urge employers to publish and act on equal pay audits
The gender pay gap is at its narrowest since official records began in 1997, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Men now earn 9.4 per cent more than women, down from 10 per cent in 2013, which equates to about £100 a week. However, rather than women’s pay increasing, the change was due to men's wages falling faster than their female colleagues in real terms.
Pay growth between 2013 and 2014 was slow, at just 0.1 per cent, well below the rate of inflation.
But overall the trend has been towards increased wage equality down from 17.4 per cent in 1997, despite a relatively large increase in pay disparity between the sexes between 2012 and 2013.
Equality campaign group Opportunity Now (ON), part of Business in the Community, said the latest figures were disappointing, and showed a lack of progress.
Kathryn Nawrockyi, ON director, said: “It’s good to see that the gender pay gap has narrowed in 2014 after widening last year – the reversal has become a U-turn. However, the gap has only narrowed by 0.7 per cent, which indicates that progress on reducing the gap remains frustratingly slow.
"When coupled with the fact that earnings growth is still well below the rate of inflation, women continue to lose out as they are more likely to be in low-paying jobs and trapped in in-work poverty.
"If we are to ensure that everyone – men and women – is able to earn a fair reward for their work, employers must take action to tackle this now.”
She said that ON’s 2012 and 2013 Diversity Benchmarks showed that companies which carried out equal pay audits were more likely to have more women in management and senior management positions.
“We strongly encourage employers to follow in the footsteps of organisations like PwC by publishing their gender pay gap and taking steps to address it,” she added.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, said: “It’s good to see the gender pay gap narrowing again. But after last year’s widening we’re only back to where we were in 2012.”
O’Grady highlighted the data showing that part-time women’s pay still lags some way behind that of their full-time colleagues.
“Nearly six million women work part-time and they earn £5.15 less per hour than full-time men,” she said.
"Two in five of part-time women earn less than the living wage. “We need better paid, flexible, part-time work opportunities, and better paid leave for fathers to encourage more equal parenting.
“The full-time gender pay gap may have closed for younger women but it widens dramatically for women in their 40s and 50s.
“Far too many women still find they have to take a step down to access flexible or reduced hours once they become mothers, and their earnings never recover even when they return to full-time work,” she added.