The Pay Gap Is 17% at the Top: 7 Ways to Close Yours

The official figures published on 22nd October brought good news on the surface. The UK gender pay gap for full-time employees fell to 6.8% in April 2026, down from 7.2% a year earlier and from 16.4% in 2001.

The headline hides the part that matters most if you earn well. Among the top 10% of earners, the gap is 17.3%, and the Office for National Statistics reports that it has been closing more slowly at the top than for anyone else. Among managers, directors and senior officials, the gap is 11.4%.

Later this month, the Fawcett Society will mark Equal Pay Day, the point in the year when women, on average, stop being paid compared with men. Last year it fell on 22nd November. The charity calculates the date from the average full-time hourly gap, and it had not announced this year's date when this piece was published. At the current rate of progress, the Trades Union Congress has calculated that the gap will not close until 2056.