Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionLatest NewsEqual payPay & benefitsSex discrimination

Gender pay gaps in government made transparent in online league of shame

by Louisa Peacock 25 Sep 2008
by Louisa Peacock 25 Sep 2008

The Foreign Office, Home Office and the Ministry of Defence have some of the worst gender pay gaps in the government according to the central equalities department.

In a drive to boost private sector employers to be transparent about the pay gap between men and women, the Government Equalities Office has published an updated list of pay gap statistics across departments on its website. It hopes the private sector will follow suit to encourage firms to be more open about inequality in the workplace.

The National Weights and Measures Laboratory was the worst government offender, with a 28.5% gender pay gap. The Foreign Office came second, admitting it paid its male staff 19.3% more than females, with the Ministry of Defence taking third place, registering an 18.8% difference between the salaries of men and women. The Home Office pay gap is listed as 18.2%.

The move to be open about pay gaps is aimed at encouraging private sector employers to log on to the Equalities Office website and work out their gender pay gap online.

An Equalities Office spokeswoman told Personnel Today: “The main point about this is that there is now an official tool available that helps employers to calculate their pay gap. This is part of a package of measures to help encourage transparency. It is totally is voluntary.”

Not surprisingly, the Equalities Office registered the least worse gender pay gap, although the figure was -0.9%, making it the only government department that actually pays its women more than men.

Other better-performing government departments included the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (5.6%), the Child Support Agency (7.1%) and the Border and Immigration Agency (8.2%).

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The full list is on the Government Equalities Office website.

The average gender pay gap across all employers when comparing median hourly is 12.6% according to the Office for National Statistics.




Louisa Peacock

previous post
Garden leave – employment law
next post
Health and safety drive could save small businesses £300m

You may also like

Employees voting with feet as return-to-office pressure increases...

15 Jul 2025

Postmasters could take ownership of Post Office

14 Jul 2025

Ethnicity and disability pay gaps: Ready to report?...

14 Jul 2025

Manager dismissed after covert recording with HR wins...

14 Jul 2025

Food sector warned it is facing a workforce...

14 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace investigation: 45 allegations upheld

14 Jul 2025

Black TV professionals’ experiences of racism are rife,...

14 Jul 2025

Steep reduction in recruitment in June

14 Jul 2025

Two-thirds drink to cope with work stress and...

14 Jul 2025

Why online training won’t help reduce sexual harassment

14 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+