The gender pay gap at the country’s biggest trusts has hardly closed despite the roll-out of schemes such as “unconscious gender bias” training, enhanced maternity leave and the appointment of “diversity champions”.
The average pay gap at the 20 largest trusts was 32.3 per cent last year (meaning women are paid 67.7p to every £1 for men). It constitutes little progress on the 32.5 per cent gap in 2022 and 33 per cent in 2021.
Of the 100 public bodies with the largest pay gaps, 97 were trusts, analysis by The Guardian has found. This is in part because most of the lower-paid and often part-time roles in schools are done by women, as opposed to women in the same role as men simply being paid less.
Schools Week analysis found the gap did narrow at 12 of the 20 biggest trusts. But Vivienne Porritt, co-founder of WomenEd, said the pay gulfs were “not acceptable in a profession that professes to be equitable as part of its core values”.
