The Gender Pay gap is still there ...

Gender pay statistics for 2022-23 show that companies such as Goldman Sachs and HSBC reported a growing differential in the average median hourly pay received by men and women. The average pay gap in finance was 22.5% last year, improving slightly from 23% in 2021 and lower only than construction (22.8%) and education (24.7%). Big banks with UK offices were some of the worst offenders. Goldman Sachs reported one of the biggest gender pay gaps, with women paid 53.2% less than men, up from 51.3%. Banks and City law firms say that their pay differentials are largely based on fewer women occupying senior well-paid positions. HSBC reported the biggest gender pay gap of any bank, paying women 51.1% less than men.

Employers with more than 250 employees have been required by law to publish gender pay statistics since 2017. The figures show that little progress has been made in closing the pay gap over the past five years despite political pressure. Overall, about 80% of employers across the economy awarded higher average pay to men compared to women, worse than the 77% recorded in the first year of disclosures in 2017. The average median hourly pay gap declined from 9.7% to 9.4% last year but remains at the same level reported five years ago.

The rise of Degree Apprenticeships

In 2022-23, 42,060 people began Higher-level Apprenticeships in various fields, from policing and social work to sales and retail. That number is dwarfed by the 560,000 accepted on to traditional degree courses. However, Universities Minister Robert Halfon, wants Degree Apprentices to make up half of all university-enrolled learners in the future, and Ucas is to display them alongside degree courses from next year. Currently, about 100 universities offer such apprenticeships. Greg Wade, policy manager for UUK, said, “Degree Apprenticeships are in a good place. More universities are engaging, we’ve seen more employer demand and increased recognition of their value among policymakers. We see this as an opportunity to assess the barriers, ask what would encourage institutions to deliver Apprenticeships and then reflect that back to ministers.”